‘Could it really have been ten years ago?’ Christian Klien’s eyes appeared to say. Indeed, it could. After rescuing the floundering Jaguar outfit in November 2004 and signing up veteran David Coulthard after nine years at McLaren, the new Red Bull Racing team had a big decision to make, with two promising Red Bull-backed youngsters vying for one seat. Sound familiar?
In one corner stood 22-year old Austrian Christian Klien, with a year’s F1 experience already under his belt in the recalcitrant Jaguar after winning the Zandvoort F3 Masters and finishing runner-up to Ryan Briscoe in the previous year’s Formula 3 Euroseries – ahead of Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Timo Glock, Bruno Spengler and Nicolas Lappiere, to name but a few. In the other, 23-year-old Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, who wiped the floor with the opposition in the final season of Formula 3000, only once failing to take pole and winning seven times.
In the end, it was decided that the two would share the seat, with Klien starting the season and Liuzzi taking over from the European leg in San Marino, each aware that any mistake could spell the end. But despite everything that was at stake, their relationship was surprisingly good.
“I have known Christian since 2001 or 2002 and we became friends straight away,” says Liuzzi. “Even though for many years we were fighting for the same seat and both realised that obviously when you close the visor you are fighting for your career, we were always good friends and had a good relationship.”
“At that time, you could easily become enemies because you are racing for your career, but for us it was good outside the track,” agrees Klien. “Everything was normal and that was of course a benefit for us.”
But for whatever reason, unfortunately neither of their Formula One careers would live up to its early promise. Klien outqualified Coulthard 8-7 in 2005 and was in line to score Red Bull’s first podium at Monaco in 2006 before transmission failure struck. He was eventually replaced by Robert Doornbos for the final three Grand Prix of the season, only returning to F1 in 2010 for a three-race stint at Colin Kolles’ fledgling HRT team. Liuzzi would also race for Kolles at HRT in 2011 alongside a fresh-faced Daniel Ricciardo, having been dropped by Red Bull sister team Toro Rosso at the end of the 2007 season despite a sixth place in China. He would match that result for Force India at the 2010 Korean Grand Prix, before teaming up with Kolles again in the new World Endurance Championship in 2012.
Motorsport is a funny old business at the best of times, so it was only apt that it took the perfect storm of French air traffic control strikes – which threatened to ground ByKolles’ second driver Simon Trummer – and the last-minute withdrawal of Klien’s original team due to contractual wranglings for the pair to finally be reunited at the WEC’s season-opening 6 Hours of Silverstone, naturally with Kolles again at the helm. Klien takes up the story: