By John Sharpe
March 31 2005

Once again the Formula One rumor mill is alive and well with reports coming out of the Red Bull Racing team that an offer of one their young - talented drivers could wind up at Sauber as a “loaner.” With Jacques Villeneuve struggling to come to grips with his Sauber C24, speculation now swirls around comments made by Red Bull Racing owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

“We have quite a density of talent available. Now it is up to us to hone that talent or to lend it to other teams. And this we will do.”

Christian Klien has performed exceptionally well for RBR thus far but will more than likely surrender his seat to Vitantonio Liuzzi when Imola rolls around.

As it stands, Christian Klien is ineligible to take over the Friday testing role for RBR since over the course of nearly two seasons he has gained considerable F1 experience.

If a mid season switch were to occur between Sauber and RBR, it would definitely allow for both drivers to gain greater F1 experience simultaneously. In addition, if Klien does give up his race seat to Liuzzi and JV finds himself losing his C24 seat, Christian Klien quite possibly could end up as a “loaner” driver at Sauber and Scott Speed could wind up taking over the Friday testing duties.

Still another possibility has Liuzzi moving to Sauber, Klien remaining the second driver for RBR and Scott Speed again being the third driver.
Klien has done very well scoring points in the first two races. However, Liuzzi has shown to be very fast - proven by his Friday’s test times.

Mateschitz has stated that he wants to give both of his young drivers a chance to gain enough racing experience before next year.
If the possibility of a vacancy arises over at Sauber Mateschitz sees no problem with one of his drivers switching to the Swiss outfit.

“I don’t want to start ideas which might prove irrelevant. Villeneuve might suddenly regain his form, so we’ll wait and see.”


John.Sharpe@racingbulls.co.uk