By .
December 3 2003

Jaguar have announced Christian Klien as the second driver for the 2004 Formula One world championship. Klien replaces Justin Wilson who, although putting in a solid performance, failed to retain his drive due to a lack of funding. Klien was runner runner-up in the 2003 German Formula Three championship.

He greatly impressed Jaguar with his speed and attitude during testing at Valencia recently. The test was Klien’s first experience in a Formula One car.

"Christian was in as much control of himself as he was the car," said David Pitchforth, Managing Director of Jaguar Racing.
"He was extremely calm, composed and didn't seem remotely fazed by his first ever experience with a Formula One car. His technical feedback was excellent and there is no doubt in our minds about the potential of this exciting new young talent. He worked very well with the race engineers and demonstrated increasing speed as he became familiar with the car."

"Christian’s professionalism and brain bandwidth are also very impressive and combined with his application, our decision to employ him as a race driver was based on merit, potential and speed"


“Knowing that I am a Jaguar F1 driver has made me the happiest man on earth," Klien said.
"I have worked tirelessly over the years to get to this point but I appreciate also that the real hard work for me starts now. I am indebted to Jaguar Racing for giving me an opportunity to prove my worth and I intend repaying Jaguar through hard work, commitment and ultimately, results on the race track."

"Before that, however, I have a responsibility alongside Mark Webber to support the development of the 2004 challenger and that means countless hours of testing over the winter period. This will also be a very valuable familiarisation exercise for me too as I get to know the car, the team and it’s associated partners."

Here's what Pitchforth had to say about Justin: "I cannot thank Justin enough for his hard work and commitment since joining us after the British Grand Prix. Justin’s speed, focus and experience are exemplary and our decision to put Christian in the race car in no way reflects upon Justin’s clear ability as a competitive racing driver. We are, however, in discussions with Justin about how Jaguar Racing can help with his future career," he said.

Hopefully Justin Wilson will get the opportunity to race next year, either with Jordan or Minardi.

Paul Stoddart has made it clear that he’s welcome back, at Minardi, but if he didn’t have enough money for Jag…..