By Huw Alban
October 3 2006

The Spyker M F1 silly season is in full swing, with Tiago Monteiro and Christian Klien slugging it out to claim the No.2 seat in the team. Both have stated publically that they are in productive discussions with a result expected soon.

The popular F1 news web site F1Racing.net managed to catch up with Klien recently. The departed Red Bull driver is still talking confidently about a possible seat with the team next year.

"My plans with Spyker are quite concrete, everything is looking good," Klien was quoted as saying. However, if this all falls through then he apparently intends "to join a Japanese team as their Friday and test driver." This has to mean Super Aguri, as I simply cannot see the Honda team dropping Anthony Davidson anytime soon, although F1Racing.net claim that Klien's name has been associated with the No.3 seat at Honda recently.

"Spyker is a very ambitious group and their signing of star designer Mike Gascoyne as well as their engine deal with Ferrari show their eagerness to be competitive in the sport. Gascoyne will start his work on November 1 and I am sure, his influence will definitely be noticeable with the new car."

A number of quotes have appeared recently claiming that the team needed drivers to bring money or sponsors with them. The latest has appeared on FormulaOne.com where Michiel Mol was asked, "The team just has announced a 2007 contract extension with Christijan Albers, but the second cockpit is still open. Will you be basing your line-up on the concept that drivers bring money and / or sponsors?"

"For next year we have to," Mol was quoted as replying. "Maybe if we get a title sponsor that might change. Sure, we are looking to get into the position in the future to select our driver line-up based on talent, but for now we have to look both ways."

Through F1Racing.net, Klien has poured scorn on any remarks that he needs to pay for a seat with the team. ""I was not asked to bring any suitcase full of money. This also why, I am not worried by the likes of Alexandre Premat, Adrian Sutil and Ernesto Viso. They even have to pay for their test drives."

It has also come to our attention that Klien has been a recent regular visitor to the Silverstone factory suggesting that negotiations are progressing somewhere. Curiously there has been nothing from Tiago Monteiro to answer Christian's bold statements. The last quote from him, now a few weeks old, stated that the team management were keen to retain the same race driver lineup and have one permanent development driver.

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