Does Klein deserve a seat next year?

ralf fan · 10 Oct 2004, 12:08 (Ref:1120262)

He seems to have had a quiet season with the odd flash of brilliance....

However with no drives available except the Jordon and Minnie's... unless Jag are bought by someone Klein will not have a race seat next year...

But does he deserve one?
something like Justin Wilson... who had a goodish last season yet finds himself on the sidelines...

Knowlesy · 10 Oct 2004, 12:13 (Ref:1120264)

He hasn't been remotely quiet!

I think he deserves a seat. He's a good racer.

But Justin Wilson deserves a seat I must say, given how excellently he performed last year.

In the end, I suspect neither will get a seat and someone like Verstappen will step in!

Mr A Pie · 10 Oct 2004, 12:17 (Ref:1120268)

He's a top bloke with consistent finishes. The guy is finding his feet and nurses the car round beautifully. His head is on the level. He penned a great note of support to all at Jag and seems to have learned a lot from Mark in terms of persona. He would be a valuable asset to any F1 team next season.

BootsOntheSide · 10 Oct 2004, 12:37 (Ref:1120280)

He's clearly not going to be a race winner in future, but he's had a respectable rookie season considering the circumstances, and could be a good #2 for whoever buys Jaguar (especially if Red Bull end up invovled in any such deal). He hasn't made many mistakes, has improved as the season went on, and my initial disappointment that a pay-driver replaced Wilson has dropped as he's clearly a respectable pay-driver.

CleanTone · 10 Oct 2004, 14:48 (Ref:1120341)

He is a spectacular bloke, then again, many others would be in his place. So, no.

KRONOSJL · 10 Oct 2004, 15:04 (Ref:1120348)

He can be fast , can be agressive , but there are plenty of others young drivers who drive at less as good as him

BSchneiderFan · 10 Oct 2004, 15:56 (Ref:1120359)

He's performed well, but would, say, Bjorn Wirdheim, Tomas Enge, Alan van der Merwe, Robbie Kerr or Gary Paffett have performed better? Klien hasn't demonstrated that he's exceptional, merely good. And that, I'm afraid, isn't always enough.

mark_l · 10 Oct 2004, 17:58 (Ref:1120416)

Klien would go quicker if he took Dieter's wallet out of his pocket before he gets in the car.

Fiorentina 1 · 11 Oct 2004, 06:12 (Ref:1120800)

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

**Aysedasi** · 11 Oct 2004, 07:26 (Ref:1120823)

Hardly. There are dozens out there who could take the seat....

Redlake27 · 11 Oct 2004, 07:30 (Ref:1120826)

He has talent, bu a season in CART, A1GP or GP2 would help him become more consistent

Mathias · 11 Oct 2004, 10:43 (Ref:1120933)

Don't know about this Klein bloke, but Christian Klien, well, no, not yet. Needs to do a bit more donkey work - I agree with Redlake.

BootsOntheSide · 11 Oct 2004, 11:05 (Ref:1120956)

He has actually been fairly consistant, with similar gaps behind Webber for most of the season (although he's beaten him on occasion). How much he contributes in terms of set-up and testing, I don't know, it's hard to judge from the outside.

Really, teams need to give drivers more than one season to adjust to Formula 1, especially drivers who came through from below F3000/GP2 level

garcon · 11 Oct 2004, 11:34 (Ref:1120983)

In alot of ways the jury's out, but you'd expect nothing else after only a year - only the very best prove themselves in their rookie season.

He doesn't really deserve to lose a place on the F1 grid, but unfortunately for him he may end up doing...

marz · 11 Oct 2004, 11:41 (Ref:1120989)

course klein deserves a chance.Now come on button had a bad season last year. also the car has not been good this year.

MRJUCY · 11 Oct 2004, 12:08 (Ref:1121027)

I think he has shown he has the talent & could be a successful driver in the future. In a way it is a shame he entered F! to early he would have been much better off to do a year of testing etc to develope him more rather then getting thrown in the deep end. I'm not confident of seeing him on the grid next year sadly but I hope he gets a test drive role or something & can come back in a year or two & make a real go of it.

Mathias · 12 Oct 2004, 12:01 (Ref:1122073)

Quote:

Originally posted by marz
course klein deserves a chance.Now come on button had a bad season last year. also the car has not been good this year.

Of course Klien deserves a chance, yes, and it's great to see drivers coming straight from F3 into F1. But I'd compare Klien with other drivers with his history. Both Button and Raikkonen had stonking first seasons in F1. Button was assisted by being in Williams, natch, but Raikkonen was in perennial midfielders Sauber. I don't think Klien has made the same impression at all. Which is why I reckon he'd do himself more favours by some GP2-level experience and some F1 testing maybe on the side. Still, if there's a team that has a place for Klien, then who am I to insist he doesn't take it!?

Snrub · 12 Oct 2004, 17:37 (Ref:1122415)

He's a rookie and he's been reasonably consistant and shown flashes of brilliance. IMO that's what you want in a rookie. He's done reasonably well at Jaguar. Only two other drivers can really claim that. He deserves another year.

Rich R · 12 Oct 2004, 18:27 (Ref:1122457)

he's an entertaining enough driver generally, not being afraid to have a go at overtaking, or making a mistake here and there. i'd give him another season to see how he further develops.

speedy_sam · 12 Oct 2004, 22:30 (Ref:1122687)

Klien struggled mightily in the first part of the season where he was on unfamiliar tracks - later he seemed to improve a bit when he came into the European circuits. But the gap to Mark still is a minimum of 1.25 secs a lap. This is too much.

I think he has done OK but he is clearly nothing special to distinguish himself. All the good guys distinguished themselves in their first season
- against more established drivers: Michael, Kimi, JPM
- against other rookies: Rubens, Webber, Alonso, Button

So performance wise I say he needs to go somewhere else next year (out of F1) but with Red bull takeover possible he might get a seat for reasons of continuity...

And marz- wrt Button - he is where he is because of the potential showed in his first year at Williams

BSchneiderFan · 12 Oct 2004, 22:51 (Ref:1122709)

Button was paired with Ralf Schumacher in his first season, hardly a "rookie".

speedy_sam · 13 Oct 2004, 01:41 (Ref:1122791)

Quote:

Originally posted by BSchneiderFan
Button was paired with Ralf Schumacher in his first season, hardly a "rookie".

Sorry it was simple error on my part - I meant to put it in the first section (experienced drivers)

Snrub · 13 Oct 2004, 03:54 (Ref:1122838)

Where's the "minimum 1.25s/lap" stuff coming from? He's clearly closer than that. If it was true and you dropped just the two of them on the track, Webber would lap Klein by the end of a race distance. In Webber's first season no one looked at him as good because he beat Yoong, it was because he moved forward and beat other cars with his Minardi. Button raced against Ralf and while he looked very good, Ralf slaughtered him.

BootsOntheSide · 13 Oct 2004, 11:50 (Ref:1123100)

Ralf didn't 'slaughter' Button - they were usually pretty close on the track, and Button was often the faster of the two. Same goes for JPM against Ralf the next year - in both cases reliability helped Ralf finish ahead.

shiny side up! · 13 Oct 2004, 13:31 (Ref:1123206)

I think if Klien gets to stick around for a long career in F1, he might end up a lot like Panis... solid, dependable, but not going to win a world championship or a lot of races...

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