Is Klien any good?

[cds_uk]

Ok i admit he has shown well on occasion this year but bear in mind he is nearly two seasons into his career, he is with a team he knows inside out, the car is not to shabby at all and DC has outscored him 21 - 5, not sure about the qualifying stats but i would wager DC has the edge there also, is Klien any good? i am a long way from convinced.

[Mr V]

Imo, he deserves his seat. Don't forget, DC has raced 3 more races than Christian due to Liuzzi having 3 outings.

Christian seemed more impressive than DC, especially in quali at Brazil.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Don't forget, DC has raced 3 more races than Christian due to Liuzzi having 3 outings.

4 outings.

[runshaw]

Yes Klien is bloody good. I recall Autosport once calling him 'the mighty Klien'! In his first year he was solid, and remember him overtaking Kimi in Bahrain twice and also overtaking Schuey?! This year he has come on leaps and bounds, and has done a very good job. I think he can hack it at F1.

[JeremySmith]

Yes I think he is very good, and deserves his seat..

[courageous]

Not the best ever, but deserving of his seat.
The type of driver I point to whenever people start ranting about pay drivers.
If you were the boss, which would you pick - pay DC or get paid (lots) by Red Bull to run Klein?

[jamesl]

I wanted to dislike him too, but he has done a good job and I hope he gets better. He deserves to be there next year, with Liuzzi in the junior team.

[Marbot]

Yes he is very good,representative fuel in qually and all that,Red Bull must be very happy,Blah Blah Blah.

[BootsOntheSide]

I doubt Red Bull would give anyone money to run Klien - he isn't a Red Bull backed driver, and it's unlikely that he would have kept the drive if he wasn't a)already there and b)Austrian. I still feel that Liuzzi has a lot more potential overall, but Christian has exceeded expectations this year. We'll never known how much fuel he was running in Bahrain, but in Brazil he pitted after a few people and not significantly earlier than any of the guys who he suprisingly outqualified.

As for next year, should he be in teh 'senior' Red Bull team, or would his experience be well-used in leading the junior team, allowing Liuzzi to learn from DC? Brundle raised this question in the qualifying, implying that Dieter M was pondering the same matter.

[mac]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

I doubt Red Bull would give anyone money to run Klien - he isn't a Red Bull backed driver, and it's unlikely that he would have kept the drive if he wasn't a)already there and b)Austrian.

Don't know about that. Didn't Red Bull cough up a not-inconsiderable amount of money to ensure he was in a Jaguar R4?

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

I doubt Red Bull would give anyone money to run Klien - he isn't a Red Bull backed driver

Yes he is.

[Marbot]

I think we could possibly see some switching about between the teams depending on circumstances.

[ensign14]

Last year was a year too soon for him. Ignore it. He is very good. He was good in F3. Had Red Bull let him test for a year then we'd be going on about a new talent this year. But then again had he tested for a year Jag would not have been embarrassed from a points perspective, therefore available for a song...[/conspiracy]

[cds_uk]

As i said at the start of the thread i think he has shown well on occasion this year, Q in Brazil being a stand out, but i still have to look at the points return, surely a little bit dissapointing or there wouldn`t be rumours of DM looking at putting him in the junior team.

[Jordi]

Well the points return... Vitantonio's four races were in the early part when the RBR was more competitive compared to the rest of the field. Right now BAR and Sauber seem to have equaled them at least.

Liuzzi never outqualified DC, while Klien has done that 8 times.

[F1racer]

Originally Posted by Jordi

Well the points return... Vitantonio's four races were in the early part when the RBR was more competitive compared to the rest of the field. Right now BAR and Sauber seem to have equaled them at least.

Liuzzi never outqualified DC, while Klien has done that 8 times.

You forget that Liuzzi was the first man on track 2 times.

By the way Liuzzi was the first guy to beat DC on track. Imola 2005, VL 8th and DC 11th.

[Hein]

CK deserves his seat, I think he has done well this season. Not Schumie material but a very decent driver. Red Bull could do a lot worse.

[Jordi]

Originally Posted by F1racer

You forget that Liuzzi was the first man on track 2 times.

By the way Liuzzi was the first guy to beat DC on track. Imola 2005, VL 8th and DC 11th.

True. Though Christian has also been amongst the early starters at times. Crux of the matter for me is that Liuzzi seems to be much more hyped than Christian, but I don't think there's that much (if anything) between the two.

[EHS]

Klien's problem is that he drives for Red Bull.

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

I think Klien surprised a lot of people last year, on paper he didn't deserve the Jaguar seat but throughout the year he showed flashes of promise, speed and some excellent race craft. Enough to warrant a second season anyway and I think he's delivered the goods this year.

He's one of those guys who never really shon until he got to F1, a rare breed these days.

[BootsOntheSide]

My apologies, you're both absolutely right. In effect he leap-frogged Liuzzi (who's been their coming man for some time) by getting into F1 while Tonio stayed in F3000 - they may have been trying to set him up for a fall (which didn't work), or help Tonio gain experience and ideally a title in F3000, or simply made inroads into the Jaguar team.