More candidates for HRT seat, Christian Klien eyeing second seat – Formula 1 update
The 29-year Austrian driver, Christian Klien, is eying the second seat of Hispania Racing Team which is also the last available seat for the 2011 Formula 1 season.
He further said that HRT will have a good car for 2011 season which will surely surprise some bigger teams.
HRT are the only team who have not yet named their second driver and have insisted that they will wait till the championship starts to choose the teammate of Narain Karthikeyan.
They have tested two drivers, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Giorgio Mondini, on the third test in Barcelona.
Klien was never tested but he does not see it as a setback and said, “All tests were done with the 2010 car, which I raced last season.”
Klien was with the Hispania team in 2010 season and drove the car in three grands prix. He said that he had a good time with the team engineers and did some development work with them.
He said, “Tonio or Mondini have no experience in this [2010] car. From a team's perspective it is only justified to get as much feedback as possible and test other drivers' work.”
Although Liuzzi is said to be a strong competitor for the HRT seat as he showed in the Barcelona test where he outpaced the team’s permanent driver Narain Karthikeyan, Klien still thinks that the seat is wide open.
Klien and Liuzzi were at Red Bull in the 2005 season and Klien insists they are good friends. He said that Liuzzi called him after the HRT test and was very happy about that. He also said that whoever, out of them, gets the HRT seat, their friendship will
not be dented.
Finally, he said that if it does not work out at HRT, he will look for a test driver seat at some other team in Formula 1. He said that in case both options are cold, he will drive in some other auto racing class. He would not have to wait too long as the
season opens in about three weeks and there are many teams without a test driver.
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