UNDER
With Clare Lawrence Austrian-born Christian Klien is well–known in Formula 1 racing. He had his first F1 Test at the age of 20 and a year later he raced his debut in the 2004 Australian GP in Melbourne for Jaguar. He has also raced for Red Bull, Honda F1 and BMW Sauber and last season he was part of the Hispania Racing Team. Now 28, he has joined Aston Martin Racing and will compete in the 24 hours Le Mans this month. Hi Christian! It’s so great to be interviewing you! Thank you for accepting my offer of an interview! Not a problem, you are very welcome. How is life in the fast lane in racing at the moment? Not too bad. We are already gearing up for the greatest race on earth, the 24 hours of Le Mans in June. Many people do not know how much development work you put into such a project. Our new Aston Martin AMR-One was built completely from scratch. That includes the chassis, the engine, everything! It is an uphill battle, but a challenge I love. I cannot wait to go racing again. You got to meet your idol, Ayrton Senna, when you were only eight years old. Was that something you will always remember? Yes, certainly. I was a little kid and somehow my dad and I had managed to sneak into the paddock in Hockenheim. But please don’t tell Bernie Ecclestone. I might be out of Formula One for the rest of my life if he finds out. It was kind of funny. We had just made our way into the paddock and as we rushed in between two motor homes we bumped right into Ayrton Senna.
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CHRISTIAN KLIEN
What was he like?
What are your goals for your racing?
Wonderful. It was as if he could read our minds. Never in our lives would we dare to ask him for a photograph. But he knew we wanted just that. So he stopped and waited patiently until the photo was taken. I still have it in my room. It was my first taste of the big world of Formula One. But back then it was light years away for me. Fast forward a couple of years and I was running round in overalls writing autographs myself in the paddock, Funny, huh?
Definitely to get things up and running with Aston Martin, we started from scratch about half a year ago, so inevitably we had issues here and there in testing. Eventually the team decided to skip the 1,000 km race at Spa in May. As much I would have loved to go racing in Belgium, where I won in 2009, it is common sense to do our homework first. We are still in the early stages of a three year plan. But then, Le Mans is certainly the highlight of the season. In my maiden race there in 2008 I got onto the podium. When you are standing up there looking down on tens of thousands of race fans – it is a moment you will never forget all your life. So my goal is certainly to be up there again. Next time standing in the middle ;-) And I still think there are things to be achieved in Formula 1. Let’s see how things pan out there.
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Testing in the Aston Martin last month.
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HRT Racing 2010
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Are you excited about what the future holds for you in racing? Yeah! Racing is in my blood. I belong behind the wheel. And Le Mans is the best opportunity to fill any void you may have felt before. Christian, once again thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview and I wish you every success for the future! My pleasure and good luck with the magazine!
You can read more about Christian at his website: www.christian-klien.com We all wish him Good Luck at Le Mans!
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