The Woking based team's former tester Pedro de la Rosa left McLaren approximately one month ago, when signing a racing deal with BMW Sauber F1. While the British outfit decided to temporarily replace the Spaniard with their former tester Gary Paffett, it was pretty clear that another driver would be selected for that role later on.
And that's because Paffett – who debuted the McLaren MP4-25 on the Valencia track on February 1 – is a Mercedes works driver in the German DTM series and will focus fully on that programme through the entire 2010. His aim for this year is to win a 2nd title in the German championship, and doing a parallel testing programme with McLaren Mercedes would only harm his interests.
As far as Klien is concerned, the Austrian driver began looking for a racing seat for 2010 ever since the last season ended, but the lack of strong financial backing left him outside the teams' lists. Asked how he rates his chances of being on the 2010 grid, Klien admitted they're slim, but revealed that another year as a tester would not be “catastrophic.”
Klien started an overall 48 races in Formula One – for Jaguar and Red Bull Racing – before switching to test/reserve driver role in 2007. Until now, he has been in that position for Honda and BMW Sauber, but the lack of in-season testing imposed by the FIA for the 2009 season has kept him outside an F1 car for more than a year.
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