Christian Klien
Born into the heart of Austria's alpine region, the surrounding mountains provided the perfect playground for the young Klien, and it appeared that he may look to have a future in ski racing - until his father took him to a local kart race. Immediately bitten by the motor sport bug, Christian persuaded his father to buy him a kart of his own and spent the next three years touring Austria and Switzerland gaining experience and, gradually, winning trophies, including the Swiss junior title in 1996.
As soon as he was old enough, however, Klien moved into cars, starting with the 1999 Formula BMW Junior Cup in neighbouring Germany. He began in the best possible manner, winning his first ever car race at the Sachsenring, before adding a further four victories en route to fourth in the overall standings. The following year, he moved into the full ADAC FBMW series with Team Rosberg, overseen by 1982 F1 world champion. Regular top ten finishes were not enough to challenge for the title, but Klien was learning all the time and, in 2001, became a regular on the top step of the podium as he raced to third overall in the championship.
Formula Renault provided the next step, and Klien managed to squeeze in an Italian winter campaign with JD Motorsport before staying with the team for the full 2002 German championship. Again proving to be a quick learner, the Austrian won four races that season, eventually running out as overall champion. He also contested selected Eurocup races but, despite being the best-placed newcomer, could not gain enough points to rise above fifth overall.
With Formula Renault conquered, Klien continued his learning curve the following season, joining the respected Mücke Motorsport team for the F3 Euroseries. Despite his inexperience, the likeable Austrian quickly proved to be one of the season's front-runners and, while Australian Ryan Briscoe effectively dominated the point’s race, Klien managed to sneak four race wins and five other podiums to end the season as runner-up. His biggest moment, however, came in the non-championship Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort where, against an elite international field, he controlled the race from the front and took the title.
Despite being expected to either shoot for the Euroseries title or graduate to the FIA F3000 series, Klien received an unexpected chance to jump straight into Formula One. His inclusion on the renowned Red Bull Junior Team programme had already marked him out as a prospective grand prix driver of the future, but brand owner Dietrich Mateschitz pushed for the Austrian to be included in the Jaguar Racing line-up for 2004 and, as a sponsorship deal between the two parties was looming, Klien was hired to partner Mark Webber.
The gulf between F3 and F1 initially appeared to have too wide for Klien to bridge, and he struggled to match the speed of his team mate in the early races. A spate of mid-season retirements led to calls for him to be stood down in favour of more experienced alternatives – with McLaren's Alex Wurz among those mentioned – but Klien kept his head and raised his game as the year went on, eventually claiming his first F1 points for sixth place in Belgium.
For 2005 Jaguar was no more and Red Bull took to the tracks as a fully-fledged team with the Austrian still on board as number two the newly recruited David Coulthard. It was planned for his seat in the #15 car to be shared with the F3000 Champion Viatantonio Liuzzi, but in the event Christian was to take part in the majority of the races, his best result being a fifth in the season’s finale in China. With the Red Bull squad expanding to four cars by the acquisition of Minardi for 2006, Klien retained his place in the senior squad again alongside the vastly experienced Coulthard. His third season in Formula 1 yielded only a couple of single point finishes before it became apparent that he would not be retained at the season’s end. After refusing offers of support from Red Bull in other racing categories away from Formula 1, the Austrian was summarily replaced after the Italian Grand Prix with Robert Doornbos stepping up from the third driver role.
Still hoping to make a retain a foohold in Grand Prix racing, Christian then joined the Honda team for 2007 as a test driver hoping to eventually re-establish himself as a Formula 1 regular. Having accepted similar role for 2008 with BMW Sauber alongside the promising youngster Marko Asmer, Klien however, looks likely to remain a valued understudy at best.
