Christian Klien

Christian Klien
Born	7 1983 (1983-Template:Pad2digit-Template:Pad2digit) Hohenems, Vorarlberg, Austria
Died	{{{death_date}}} {{{death_place}}}
Formula One career
Nationality	Austrian
Years	2004–2006, 2010

Christian Klien (born 7 February 1983) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. In total he has scored 14 points in Formula One.

Klien currently drives for NewBlood By Morand Racing in the ELMS.

Racing career

Born in Hohenems, Klien started his motorsport career in his early teens. He raced in karting championships in both Austria and Switzerland, before moving to Formula BMW. After winning several titles in lower Formulas, Klien moved into Formula One, driving for the Jaguar Racing team, alongside Mark Webber. At the end of 2004, however, Jaguar sold its Formula One team to Red Bull, which renamed it Red Bull Racing. In an unusual arrangement, Klien shared a race seat with Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi. He stayed at Red Bull for 2006, whilst Liuzzi moved to the Red Bull junior team, Scuderia Toro Rosso.

After an unsuccessful 2006, Klien's old teammate Mark Webber replaced him for the 2007 season, news Klien learned from Webber himself. Klien was offered alternatives to Formula One for 2007, including driving in the ChampCar series, but he refused and aimed for a seat in Formula One. He secured the test driver's seat at Honda, despite competition from other drivers, including Gary Paffett.

On 2 February 2008 Klien signed as BMW Sauber's reserve and test driver for the 2008 Formula One season, alongside Estonian Marko Asmer.

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. 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. 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. Continuing in the series in 2001, Klien managed to win five races, and ended up third in the series. 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.

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.

Formula One

Klien driving for Jaguar at the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix, where he scored his first Formula One points

Jaguar (2004)

Main article: Jaguar Racing

In December 2003, Klien was signed as a race driver for the Jaguar Formula One team for the 2004 season, replacing Justin Wilson, who had replaced Antônio Pizzonia for the final 5 Grand Prix of the 2003 season. 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.

Red Bull (2005–2006)

Main article: Red Bull Racing

Klien in qualifying at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

2005

Jaguar were bought out in November 2004 by Austrian energy drink company Red Bull and were renamed Red Bull Racing. 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 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. 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.

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 (which was renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso, Italian for "Team Red Bull") in 2006. 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 driving for RBR at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix

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 than Klien throughout the season. In August 2006, it was confirmed that Klien would not stay with the Red Bull team for the upcoming 2007 season, or at least as a race driver, due to Red Bull's signing of Mark Webber. 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. 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.

Honda and BMW Sauber (2007–2009)

Main article: Honda Racing F1

Klien driving a Honda RA107 at the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Klien testing for BMW Sauber in Bahrain prior to the 2009 season

On 15 November 2006, Honda Racing announced the signing of Klien as their test and reserve driver for the 2007 season. 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. 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. However, the seat went to Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto.

In 2008 Klien signed as BMW Sauber's test and reserve driver for the 2008 Formula One season. He also signed with Peugeot to race in 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driving the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP he finished third overall with Ricardo Zonta and Franck Montagny. In October he participated in Petit Le Mans in the American Le Mans Series, driving with Peugeot's factory drivers Marc Gené and Nicolas Minassian.

Klien remained in the position of BMW Sauber's test and reserve driver for 2009. He also returned to Le Mans with Peugeot, finishing sixth overall in a 908 shared with Pedro Lamy and Minassian.

For 2010, Klien was understood to be an option for Sauber before the seat went to Pedro de la Rosa.

HRT (2010)

Main article: Hispania Racing

Klien was then tipped to become Hispania Racing's reserve driver despite being second favourite to ex-US F1 man José María López but neither Klien or López got the seat. It went to former Super Aguri F1 and Spyker F1 driver Sakon Yamamoto. However, he was later signed by Hispania as well as Yamamoto. He took part in his first Grand Prix weekend for three years at the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix, where he drove in the first practice session in place of Karun Chandhok. He replaced Chandhok again at the 2010 European Grand Prix where his session was made difficult by problems with his car. At the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix he was confirmed as a replacement for the ill Sakon Yamamoto, marking his first grand prix since the 2006 Italian Grand Prix. He qualified in 22nd place, over a second ahead of team mate Bruno Senna, and ran just ahead of him in the race until a mechanical problem forced him to retire. He replaced Yamamoto for the final two races of the season in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, but the team did not retain his services into the 2011 season.

Post Formula One

After Formula One, Klien began racing in a number of categories including endurance racing, sports cars and V8 Supercars. He was close to a deal with Peugeot to race in the World Endurance Championship in 2012 before the French company withdrew from racing.

Klien has taken part in a number of V8 Supercar drives, including the Bathurst 1000 where he teamed up with Russell Ingall.

Since late 2012 Klien writes a monthly column for the Pitpass.com website.

In 2014 Klien signed a deal with NewBlood By Morand Racing to race in their 2014 ELMS campaign.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
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 Racing	18	0	0	3	16th
2005	Formula One	Red Bull Racing	15	0	0	9	15th
2006	Formula One	Red Bull Racing	15	0	0	2	18th
2007	Formula One	Honda Racing F1 Team	Test driver
2008	Formula One	BMW Sauber F1 Team	Test driver
	Le Mans 24 Hours LMP1 class	Peugeot Sport Total	1	0	0	N/A	3rd
	American Le Mans Series LMP1 class	Team Peugeot Total	1	0	0	26	17th
2009	Formula One	BMW Sauber F1 Team	Test driver
	Le Mans 24 Hours LMP1 class	Team Peugeot Total	1	0	0	N/A	6th
	American Le Mans Series LMP1 class	Team Peugeot Total	1	0	0	20	25th
	Le Mans Series LMP1 class	Team Peugeot Total	1	1	0	11	19th
2010	Formula One	Hispania Racing F1 Team	3	0	0	0	27th
2011	Le Mans 24 Hours LMP1 class	Aston Martin Racing	1	0	0	N/A	NC
	Le Mans Series LMP1 class	Aston Martin Racing	1	0	0	0	NC
2012	International V8 Supercars Championship	Walkinshaw Racing	3	0	0	168	51st
2013	Auto GP World Series	Zele Racing	2	0	0	6	18th
	ADAC Procar Series	Liqui Moly Team Engstler	2	1	1	10	6th
	European Le Mans Series LMP2 class	Morand Racing	2	0	0	28	11th

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2003	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	Dallara F303/008	HWA-Mercedes	HOC 1 4	HOC 2 6	ADR 1 3	ADR 2 21	PAU 1 Ret	PAU 2 7	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 10	LMS 1 2	LMS 2 1	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 1	A1R 1 5	A1R 2 5	ZAN 1 1	ZAN 2 2	HOC 3 23	HOC 4 3	MAG 1 Ret	MAG 2 3	2nd	89

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	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			–	–
2010	Hispania Racing F1 Team	Hispania F110	Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8	BHR	AUS	MAL	CHN	ESP TD	MON	TUR	CAN	EUR TD	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN Ret	JPN	KOR	BRA 22	ABU 20	27th	0

Sports/Touring car racing

Le Mans 24 Hours results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2008	Team Peugeot Total	Franck Montagny Ricardo Zonta	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	379	3rd	3rd
2009	Team Peugeot Total	Nicolas Minassian Pedro Lamy	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	369	6th	6th
2011	Aston Martin Racing	Stefan Mücke Darren Turner	Aston Martin AMR-One	LMP1	4	DNF	DNF
2014	Newblood by Morand Racing	Gary Hirsch Romain Brandela	Morgan LMP2-Judd	LMP2	352	10th	6th

American Le Mans Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2008	Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDi 5.5 L V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB	STP	LNB	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET ovr:2 cls:2	MON	17th	26
2009	Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB ovr:5 cls:4	STP	LNB	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET	MON		25th	20

Le Mans Series Results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	Rank	Points
2009	Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	CAT	SPA ovr:1 cls:1	ALG	NÜR	SIL	19th	11
2011	Aston Martin Racing	LMP1	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	M	CAS	SPA	IMO	SIL1 ovr:9 cls:9	EST	NC	0

¹ Driver run for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, no points awarded for the Le Mans Series.

Complete V8 Supercar results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	Final Pos	Points
2011	Rod Nash Racing	YMC R1	YMC R2	ADE R3	ADE R4	HAM R5	HAM R6	PER R7	PER R8	PER R9	WIN R10	WIN R11	HDV R12	HDV R13	TOW R14	TOW R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	QLD R18	PHI R19	BAT R20	SUR R21 15	SUR R22 Ret	SYM R23	SYM R24	SAN R25	SAN R26	SYD R27	SYD R28				77th	60
2012	Walkinshaw Racing	ADE R1	ADE R2	SYM R3	SYM R4	HAM R5	HAM R6	PER R7	PER R8	PER R9	PHI R10 PO	PHI R11 PO	HDV R12	HDV R13	TOW R14 PO	TOW R15 PO	QLD R16	QLD R17	SMP R18	SMP R19	SAN Q 19	SAN R20 11	BAT R21 9	SUR R22	SUR R23	YMC R24	YMC R25	YMC R26	WIN R27	WIN R28	SYD R29	SYD R30	51st	168

Complete International Superstars Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2012	Swiss Team	Maserati Quattroporte	MNZ R1	MNZ R2	IMO R1	IMO R2	DON R1	DON R2	MUG R1	MUG R2	HUN R1 4	HUN R2 1	SPA R1	SPA R2	VAL R1	VAL R2	PER R1	PER R2	17th	32
2013	Scuderia Giudici	BMW M3 (E92)	MNZ R1	MNZ R2	BRN R1 Ret	BRN R2 6	SVK R1	SVK R2	ZOL R1	ZOL R2	ALG R1	ALG R2	DON R1	DON R2	IMO R1	IMO R2	VAL R1	VAL R2	24th	8

*Season in progress

Complete Auto GP World Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Points
2013	Zele Racing	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	MAR 1	MAR 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	MUG 1 8	MUG 2 9	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	DON 1	DON 2	BRN 1	BRN 2	18th	6

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

External links

• Christian Klien Official website
• Christian Klien Unofficial Forum
• Christian Klien profile and statistics
• Christian Klien statistics
• Christian Klien statistics at Driver Database. (includes pre-F1 career)

Preceded by: Fábio Carbone

Formula Three Masters Winner 2003

Succeeded by: Alexandre Prémat

Template:Masters of Formula 3 winners Template:Jaguar Racing Template:RBR

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Christian Klien. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.