With little more than one month until the first race of 2010, Christian Klien is still not writing off his chances of being on the Bahrain grid.
At the DiTech Racingshow at the weekend, the former BMW-Sauber test driver revealed he is still in talks with “teams” that have yet to complete their 2010 race lineups.
The only remaining seats on the grid are with the struggling Campos team, and the new American outfit USF1.
“The chances are still good,” the 27-year-old is quoted as saying by the Austrian daily Der Standard.
Klien said he had been in the running for the Sauber and Renault seats, and indicated that both Pedro de la Rosa and Vitaly Petrov respectively could offer more attractive sponsor packages.
He said he was a possibility for de la Rosa’s seat until the “last moment”, and the same was the case with Renault.
“With Renault, I was still on the shortlist until 24 hours before the decision (to sign Petrov),” Klien insisted.
“It really was a last minute decision and one that was obviously not easy for the team,” he said.
Klien said he was not able to speak about the opportunities with Campos and USF1 “for the sake of the negotiations”, and admitted that his chances are “limited”.
“Until I no longer see a realistic chance, I will fight to take part in F1,” he added.
Klien also said “another year as a reserve driver would not be a catastrophe”.
