37 Facts About Christian Klien

Christian Klien was born on 7 February 1983 and is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver.

Christian Klien raced in karting championships in both Austria and Switzerland, before moving to Formula BMW.

Christian Klien stayed at Red Bull for 2006, whilst Liuzzi moved to the Red Bull junior team, Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Christian 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.

Christian Klien secured the test driver's seat at Honda, despite competition from other drivers, including Gary Paffett.

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

Christian Klien became enthused about racing when his dad brought him to watch a Go-Kart race.

From 1996 to 1998, Christian Klien won several kart races in both Switzerland and his native Austria, becoming the Suisse champion in his first year.

In 1999, Christian Klien moved to racing in the Formula BMW ADAC Junior Cup, winning four races and finishing fourth in the series.

Christian Klien won four races, winning the German title, and finishing fifth in the European series.

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

Christian Klien 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.

Christian Klien proved to be considerably reliable over the season, retiring only on 4 occasions out of the possible 18.

Christian Klien finished alongside Cristiano da Matta and Nick Heidfeld in joint 16th in the Drivers' Championship.

Christian Klien secured the second race seat at Red Bull, alongside Coulthard.

Christian 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.

Originally, Christian 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, Christian Klien was allowed to take this role at Imola.

Christian 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.

Christian Klien started 2006 strongly, qualifying in the top 10 for the first 2 races of the season.

In 2006, Christian 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 Christian Klien throughout the season.

On 11 July 2007, Christian Klien was released by Honda F1 to test with Spyker with a view to replacing Christijan Albers who was released because of sponsorship problems.

In 2008 Christian Klien signed as BMW Sauber's test and reserve driver for the 2008 Formula One season.

Christian Klien signed with Peugeot to race in 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Christian Klien remained in the position of BMW Sauber's test and reserve driver for 2009.

Christian Klien returned to Le Mans with Peugeot, finishing sixth overall in a 908 shared with Pedro Lamy and Minassian.

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

Christian Klien was then tipped to become Hispania Racing's reserve driver despite being second favourite to ex-US F1 man Jose Maria Lopez but neither Christian Klien or Lopez got the seat.

Christian Klien took part in his first Grand Prix weekend for three years at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he drove in the first practice session in place of Karun Chandhok.

Christian Klien replaced Chandhok again at the European Grand Prix where his session was made difficult by problems with his car.

Christian Klien 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.

Christian Klien was close to a deal with Peugeot to race in the World Endurance Championship in 2012 before the French company withdrew from racing.

Christian 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, Christian Klien writes a monthly column for the Pitpass.

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

In 2017, Christian Klien joined the Bundesheer and will continue his racing career in addition to military service.

Christian Klien competed in the 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters part-time by driving a McLaren for the Polish JP Motorsport team in a total of three two-race rounds.

In 2022 Christian Klien continued racing GT3 machineries for JP Motorsport, making a switch to GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup.