Christian Klien (born 7 February 1983) is an Austrianracing driver, who competed inFormula One between2004 and2010.^[a]

Christian Klien
Klien in 2014
Born	(1983-02-07)7 February 1983 (age 42) Hohenems, Austria
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Austrian
Active years	2004–2006,2010
Teams	Jaguar,Red Bull,HRT
Entries	51 (49 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	14
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2004 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2008–2009,2011,2014
Teams	Peugeot,Aston Martin,Morand
Best finish	3rd(2008)
Class wins	0
Previous series
2016–2023 2021 2015 2013–2014 2013 2012 2003 2002 2002 2000–2001 1999	GTWC Europe DTM FIA WEC ELMS Auto GP V8 Supercars F3 Euro Series German Formula Renault Formula Renault Eurocup Formula BMW ADAC Formula BMW Junior
Championship titles
2003 2002	Masters of Formula 3 German Formula Renault

Born and raised inHohenems, Klien competed in Formula One forJaguar,Red Bull andHRT, scoring 14 championship points across 51Grands Prix.

Born inHohenems, Klien started his motorsport career in his early teens. He raced in karting championships in both Austria andSwitzerland, before moving toFormula BMW. After winning several titles in lower Formulas, Klien moved intoFormula One, driving for theJaguar Racing team, alongsideMark Webber. At the end of 2004, however, Jaguar sold its Formula One team toRed Bull, which renamed itRed Bull Racing. In an unusual arrangement, Klien shared a race seat with ItalianVitantonio Liuzzi. He stayed at Red Bull for2006, whilst Liuzzi moved to the Red Bull junior team,Scuderia Toro Rosso.

After an unsuccessful 2006, Klien's old teammateMark Webber replaced him for the2007 season, news Klien learned from Webber himself. Klien was offered alternatives to Formula One for 2007, including driving in theChampCar series, but he refused and aimed for a seat in Formula One.^[1] He secured the test driver's seat atHonda, despite competition from other drivers, includingGary Paffett.

On 2 February 2008 Klien signed asBMW Sauber's reserve and test driver for the2008 Formula One season, alongside EstonianMarko Asmer.

Klien became enthused about racing when his dad brought him to watch ago-kart race. This enthusiasm for the sport was only increased after meeting BrazilianFormula One driverAyrton Senna.^[2] The Austrian started his career at the age of 13.^[3] From 1996 to 1998, Klien won severalkart races in bothSwitzerland and his nativeAustria, becoming the Suisse champion in his first year.

In 1999, Klien moved to racing in theFormula BMW ADAC Junior Cup, winning four races and finishing fourth in the series.^[3] The following year, he moved into the main Formula BMW ADAC Championship withTeam Rosberg, finishing the series ranked tenth overall and third in the rookie rankings.^[3] Continuing in the series in 2001, Klien managed to win five races, and ended up third in the series.^[3] JoiningJD Motorsport for the Italian winterFormula Renault series, he won one event, which led to a drive for the team in German Formula Renault for 2002.^[3]

Klien won four races, winning the German title, and finishing fifth in the European series. From there, Klien moved into theFormula Three Euroseries, withMücke Motorsport, winning four races and finishing runner-up toRyan Briscoe. Klien also won the 2003 Marlboro Masters event atZandvoort.^[3]

In December 2003, Klien was signed as a race driver for theJaguarFormula One team for the2004 season,^[4] replacingJustin Wilson, who had replacedAntônio Pizzonia for the final five Grands Prix of the2003 season.^[5] He had significant pressure on him as second driver to his more experienced teammateMark 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 four occasions out of the possible 18. Klien's only points scoring finish in his debut season came inBelgium, where Klien finished sixth; scoring three Championship points. He finished alongsideCristiano da Matta andNick Heidfeld in joint 16th in the Drivers' Championship.

2005

Jaguar were bought out in November 2004 by Austrianenergy drink companyRed Bull and were renamedRed Bull Racing.^[6] During winter testing in 2005, Klien tested several times for Red Bull Racing alongsideVitantonio Liuzzi andDavid 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 inBahrain 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 four rounds inSan Marino,Spain,Monaco and theEuropean Grands Prix instead of Klien.^[7] 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.^[8]

The Austrian returned to the race seat for theCanadian Grand Prix and maintained his race seat thanks to his strong performances and Red Bull's increased number of seats from the purchase of theMinardi team (which was renamedScuderia Toro Rosso, Italian for "Team Red Bull") in 2006.^[9] Klien finished his second year in Formula One with two further points finishes: an eighth-place finish inTurkey and a fifth at the season-finale inChina. After a promising performance in China, it was confirmed in December 2005 that Klien would drive for the Red Bull Racing outfit alongsideDavid Coulthard for the 2006 season.

2006

Klien started 2006 strongly, qualifying in the top-ten for the first two races of the season. InBahrain he finished 8th, scoring a point. However, inMalaysia he collided withKimi 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 Scot 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 upcoming2007 season, or at least as a race driver, due to Red Bull's signing ofMark Webber.^[10] After the two points finishes in Bahrain andGermany, there was some uncertainty as to where Klien would go next in his racing career, speculation suggested the United States as a logical choice for Klien, but he refused aChampCar seat in a Red Bull-backed team for 2007, preferring to chase a Formula One drive with another team.^[11] As a result, the team announced that Klien had been fired for the last three races of the season in favour of test driverRobert Doornbos.^[12]

On 15 November 2006, Honda Racing announced the signing of Klien as their test and reserve driver for the 2007 season.^[13] The Austrian made his debut for the Japanese works team at theCircuit de Catalunya, during the early pre-season testing during late November 2006. At the2007 British Grand Prix, he replaced the injuredJenson Button for the second free practice session on Friday.^[14] On 11 July 2007, Klien was released byHonda F1 to test withSpyker with a view to replacingChristijan Albers who was released because of sponsorship problems.^[15] However, the seat went to Japanese driverSakon Yamamoto.

In 2008 Klien signed asBMW Sauber's test and reserve driver for the2008Formula One season. He also signed withPeugeot to race in24 Hours of Le Mans. Driving thePeugeot 908 HDi FAP he finished third overall withRicardo Zonta andFranck Montagny. In October he participated inPetit Le Mans in theAmerican Le Mans Series, driving with Peugeot's factory driversMarc Gené andNicolas Minassian.

Klien remained in the position of BMW Sauber's test and reserve driver for2009.^[16] He also returned to Le Mans with Peugeot, finishing sixth overall in a 908 shared withPedro Lamy and Minassian.

For2010, Klien was understood to be an option forSauber before the seat went toPedro de la Rosa.

Klien was then tipped to becomeHispania Racing's reserve driver despite being second favourite to ex-US F1 manJosé María López but neither Klien or López got the seat. It went to formerSuper Aguri F1 andSpyker F1 driverSakon Yamamoto. However, he was later signed by Hispania as well as Yamamoto.^[17] He took part in his first Grand Prix weekend for three years at theSpanish Grand Prix, where he drove in the first practice session in place ofKarun Chandhok. He replaced Chandhok again at theEuropean Grand Prix where his session was made difficult by problems with his car. At theSingapore Grand Prix he was confirmed as a replacement for the illSakon Yamamoto, marking his first grand prix since the2006 Italian Grand Prix.^[18] He qualified in 22nd place, over a second ahead of team mateBruno 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 inBrazil andAbu Dhabi,^[19][20] but the team did not retain his services into the2011 season.

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 withPeugeot to race in theWorld Endurance Championship in 2012 before the French company withdrew from racing.^[1]

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

Since late 2012, Klien writes a monthly column for the Pitpass.com website.^[21]

In 2014, Klien signed a deal withNewBlood By Morand Racing to race in their 2014 ELMS campaign.^[22]

In 2017, Klien joined the Bundesheer (Austrian Armed Forces) and will continue his racing career in addition to military service.^[23] He became an expert forServusTV's coverage of Formula One from the start of the2021 season.^[24]

Klien competed in the2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters part-time by driving aMcLaren for the Polish JP Motorsport team in a total of three two-race rounds. After making his debut in the third round atZolder, he returned to the grid in the next round at the Nürburgring and in the sixth round atAssen.^[25] His fifth-place finish in the first race at Assen was his only top-10 finish in six races.

In 2022 Klien continued racing GT3 machineries for JP Motorsport, making a switch toGT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup andGT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup.

^† As Klien was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

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¹ Driver run for theIntercontinental Le Mans Cup, no points awarded for theLe Mans Series.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

^† As Klien was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

• List of Austrians in sports
• Famous Austrians

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

• Christian Klien Official website
• Christian Klien Unofficial Forum
• Christian Klien profile and statistics
• Christian Klien statistics
• Christian Klien career summary at DriverDB.com