Formula One news

Klien: I was totally surprised

Like team-mate Nick Heidfeld, Christian Klien has admitted that he was none the wiser in knowing that his BMW team would be announcing its withdrawal from Formula One this week. The Austrian now hopes to see the Hilwil outfit be promised a sustainable future.

With now only seven races remaining in which BMW will participate, the team announced on Wednesday that a combination of business strategy changes, underperformances on the track and financial worries led to the hurried decision.

"I was totally surprised when (team principal) Dr Mario Theissen informed me," Austrian Klien said on his website. "It is, of course, a great pity that BMW's involvement in Formula One will be no more at the end of the year. We in the BMW Sauber team will, however, continue to work with full deployment to the current backlog in the course of the season to catch up.

"I am very grateful for the experience that the BMW factory team has given me; it is not yet decided what will happen but changes also offer new opportunities, such as with Honda and Brawn GP, which leads this year's World Championship."

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