Christian Klien
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Christian Klien | |
|---|---|
 Klien at the inaugural Honda F1 Charity Open Day |
|
| Nationality |  Austrian |
| Car # | — |
| Current team | BMW Sauber |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Races | 48 (46 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podium finishes | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Career points | 14 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First race | 2004 Australian Grand Prix |
| Latest race | 2006 Italian Grand Prix |
| 2006 position | 18th (2 pts) |
Christian Klien (born Hohenems, February 7, 1983) is an Austrian Formula One racing driver. Klien has yet to achieve a race win or a podium finish in Formula One.
Klien started his career in motorsport in his early teens; racing in karting championships both in Austria and Switzerland before moving up to Formula BMW. After several more titles in lower Formulas, Klien moved up into Formula One with the Jaguar Racing team, alongside Mark Webber. At the end of 2004, Jaguar's Formula One team was sold to Red Bull and renamed Red Bull Racing; Klien shared the race seat with Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi. The Austrian stayed at Red Bull for 2006, with Liuzzi going to Red Bull junior team, Scuderia Toro Rosso.
After an unsuccessful 2006, it was announced that Klien's old teammate Mark Webber would replace him for the 2007 season. Klien was offered a few alternatives to Formula One for 2007, including a drive in the ChampCar series, but Klien refused and aimed for a drive in Formula One. He was eventually given a test driver role at Honda despite competition from other drivers, including the likes of Gary Paffett.
On February 2 2008, Klien was signed as BMW Sauber's reserve and test driver for the 2008 Formula One season alongside Estonian Marko Asmer.
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[edit] Personal and early life
Christian Klien was born on February 7, 1983 in Hohenems, in the Austrian Alps to Herma and Hennes Klien. Klien has a sister called Carina.
[edit] Racing career
[edit] Pre-Formula One
Klien became enthused about racing when his dad brought him to watch a Go-Kart race. This enthusiasm for the sport was only increased after meeting Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna. The Austrian started his career at the age of 13.[1] From 1996 to 1998, Klien won several kart races in both Switzerland and his native Austria, becoming the Suisse champion in his first year.
In 1999, Klien moved to racing in the Formula BMW ADAC Junior Cup, winning four races and finishing fourth in the series.[1] The following year, he moved into the main Formula BMW ADAC Championship with Team Rosberg, finishing the series ranked tenth overall and third in the rookie rankings.[1] Continuing in the series in 2001, Klien managed to win five races, and ended up third in the series.[1] Joining JD Motorsport for the Italian winter Formula Renault series, he won one event, which lead to a drive for the team in German Formula Renault for 2002.[1]
Klien won four races, winning the German title, and finishing fifth in the European series. From there, Klien moved into the Formula Three Euroseries, with Mucke Motorsport, winning four races and finishing runner-up to Ryan Briscoe. Klien also won the 2003 Marlboro Masters event at Zandvoort.[1]
[edit] Formula One
[edit] 2004: Jaguar
In December 2003, Klien was signed as a race driver for the Jaguar Formula One team for the 2004 season,[2] replacing Justin Wilson, who had replaced Antônio Pizzonia for the final 5 Grand Prix of the 2003 season.[3] He had significant pressure on him as second driver to his more experienced teammate Mark Webber, but was the first driver to ever outqualify Webber from the same team.
Klien proved to be considerably reliable over the season, retiring only on 4 occasions out of the possible 18. Klien's only points scoring finish in his debut season came in Belgium, where Klien finished sixth; scoring 3 Championship points. He finished alongside Cristiano da Matta and Nick Heidfeld in joint 16th in the Drivers' Championship.
[edit] 2005-2006: Red Bull Racing
- Main article: Red Bull Racing
_in_practice_at_USGP_2005.jpg/250px-Klien_(Red_Bull)_in_practice_at_USGP_2005.jpg)
- 2005
Jaguar were bought out in November 2004 by Austrian energy drink company Red Bull and were renamed "Red Bull Racing".[4] During winter testing in 2005, Klien tested several times for Red Bull Racing alongside Vitantonio Liuzzi and David Coulthard. Klien secured the second race seat at Red Bull, alongside the veteran Coulthard. Klien started the year with points finishes in the first two races before retiring in Bahrain before the race had even started due to an electrical problem.
With both Klien and Liuzzi signed to race for the Red Bull team in 2005, Red Bull announced that Liuzzi would be racing at the next 4 rounds in San Marino, Spain, Monaco and the European Grands Prix instead of Klien.[5] Originally, Klien was ineligible to be a third driver at these Grand Prix, as he had competed in over six Grand Prix the previous year, but after a majority of teams asked the FIA to remove this ruling, Klien was allowed to take this role at Imola.[6]
The Austrian returned to the race seat for the Canadian Grand Prix and maintained his race seat thanks to his strong performances and Red Bull's increased number of seats from the purchase of the Minardi team in 2006.[7] Klien finished his second year in Formula One with two further points finishes: an 8th place finish in Turkey and a 5th at the season-finale in China. After a promising performance in China, it was confirmed in December 2005 that Klien would drive for the Red Bull Racing outfit alongside David Coulthard for the 2006 season.
- 2006
Klien started 2006 strongly, qualifying in the top 10 for the first 2 races of the season. In Bahrain he finished 8th, scoring a point. However, in Malaysia he collided with Kimi Räikkönen on the first lap and had to pit with suspension damage, before eventually dropping out with a hydraulic failure.
In 2006, Klien was unsuccessful in comparison to his more experienced teammate David Coulthard, as the Brit scored the team's first podium and was more consistent then Klien throughout the season. In August 2006, it was confirmed that Klien would not stay with the Red Bull team for he upcoming 2007 season, or at least as a race driver, due to Red Bull's signing of Mark Webber.[8] After the 2 points finishes in Bahrain and Germany, there was some uncertainty as to where Klien would go next in his racing career, speculation suggested America as a logical choice for the Austrian, but he refused a ChampCar seat in a Red Bull-backed team for 2007, preferring to chase a Formula One drive with another team.[9] As a result, the team announced that Klien had been dropped for the last three races of the season in favour of test driver Robert Doornbos.[10]
[edit] 2007 onwards: Honda F1 and BMW Sauber
On November 15, 2006, Honda Racing announced the signing of Christian Klien as their test and reserve driver for the 2007 season.[11] The Austrian made his debut for the Japanese works team at the Circuit de Catalunya, during the early pre-season testing during late November, 2006. At the 2007 British Grand Prix, he replaced the injured Jenson Button for the second free practice session on Friday.[12] On 11 July 2007, Klien was released by Honda F1 to test with Spyker with a view to replacing Christijan Albers who was released because of sponsorship problems.[13] However, the seat went to Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto. He has been linked with a drive for Force India in 2008, and he was recently confirmed in Peugeot's 2008 Le Mans line-up alongside seven other former Formula One race and test drivers.[14] Christian has since signed as BMW Sauber's test and reserve driver for the 2008 Formula One season.
[edit] Racing record
[edit] Career summary
| Season | Series | Team Name | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final Placing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Formula BMW Junior | ADAC Sport München | 20 | 1 | 3 | 193 | 4th |
| 2000 | Formula BMW ADAC | Team Rosberg | 19 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 10th |
| 2001 | Formula BMW ADAC | Team Rosberg | 19 | 3 | 5 | 232 | 3rd |
| 2002 | Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup | JD Motorsport | 8 | 0 | 0 | 92 | 6th |
| Formula Renault 2000 Germany | JD Motorsport | 14 | 2 | 4 | 278 | 1st | |
| 2003 | Formula Three Euroseries | Mücke Motorsport | 20 | 6 | 3 | 89 | 2nd |
| Masters of Formula Three | Mücke Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 1st | |
| 2004 | Formula One | Jaguar | 18 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16th |
| 2005 | Formula One | Red Bull | 15 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 15th |
| 2006 | Formula One | Red Bull | 15 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18th |
| 2007 | Formula One | Honda | Test driver | ||||
| 2008 | Formula One | BMW Sauber | Test driver | ||||
[edit] Complete Formula One results
(key)
| Yr | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Jaguar Racing | Jaguar R5 | Cosworth CR-6 3.0 V10 | AUS 11 |
MAL 10 |
BHR 14 |
SMR 14 |
ESP Ret |
MON Ret |
EUR 12 |
CAN 9 |
USA Ret |
FRA 11 |
GBR 14 |
GER 10 |
HUN 13 |
BEL 6 |
ITA 13 |
JPN 12 |
BRA 14 |
16th | 3 | ||
| Jaguar R5B | CHN Ret |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Red Bull Racing | Red Bull RB1 | Cosworth TJ2005 3.0 V10 | AUS 7 |
MAL 8 |
BHR DNS |
SMR TD |
ESP TD |
MON TD |
EUR TD |
CAN 8 |
USA DNS |
FRA Ret |
GBR 15 |
GER 9 |
HUN Ret |
TUR 8 |
ITA 13 |
BEL 9 |
BRA 9 |
JPN 9 |
CHN 5 |
15th | 9 |
| 2006 | Red Bull Racing | Red Bull RB2 | Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 | BHR 8 |
MAL Ret |
AUS Ret |
SMR Ret |
EUR Ret |
ESP 13 |
MON Ret |
GBR 14 |
CAN 11 |
USA Ret |
FRA 12 |
GER 8 |
HUN Ret |
TUR 11 |
ITA 11 |
CHN |
JPN |
BRA |
18th | 2 | |
| 2007 | Honda Racing F1 Team | Honda RA107 | Honda RA807E 2.4 V8 | AUS | MAL | BHR |
ESP |
MON |
CAN | USA | FRA |
GBR TD |
EUR |
HUN |
TUR |
ITA |
BEL |
JPN |
CHN |
BRA |
- | - |
[edit] References
All Formula One race and championship results are taken from:
- Official Formula 1 Website. Archive: Results for 2004 – Present seasons www.formula1.com Retrieved 6 June 2006
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f GP Encyclopedia > Christian Klien GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 22 November 2006
- ^ "Klien clinches Jaguar race seat for 2004" Official Formula One Website. Retrieved 22 November 2006
- ^ "Klien replaces Wilson" BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 November 2006
- ^ "Red Bull snaps up Jaguar F1 team" BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 November 2006
- ^ "Imola race chance for Liuzzi" Official Formula One Website. Retrieved 22 November 2006
- ^ "Red Bull secure Klien exemption" BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 November 2006
- ^ "Red Bull swoop for Minardi deal" BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 November 2006
- ^ "Webber confirmed at Red Bull" GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 23 November 2006
- ^ "Matador no more - Klien bids Red Bull farewell" Official Formula One Website. Retrieved 23 November 2006
- ^ "Klien out, Doornbos in at Red Bull Racing" GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 11 September 2006
- ^ "Honda Racing F1 Team Announces 2007 Test Driver Line-Up" NewsOnF1.net. Retrieved 15 November, 2006
- ^ "Klien stands in for injured Button", flagworld.auto123.com, 2007-07-06. Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
- ^ "Klien closes on Spyker drive", itv-f1.com, 2007-07-12. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ autosport.com - Le Mans News: Peugeot confirm Le Mans line-up
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Christian Klien Unofficial Forum
- Christian Klien profile and statistics
- Christian Klien statistics
- Christian Klien statistics at Driver Database. (includes pre-F1 career)
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Fabio Carbone |
Formula Three Masters winner 2003 |
Succeeded by Alexandre Prémat |
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