Klien rejects PKV drive

The 23-year-old Austrian is out of a drive with Red Bull’s Formula One team next year after they decided to replace him with Australian Mark Webber for 2007,

They offered him a drive with PKV Racing in the US-based series instead.

Klien was told to give the team an answer by the end of the Italian Grand Prix weekend or face being relegated to a bit-part role in Red Bull's motorsport activities.

But he has decided to see out the season and then seek options elsewhere next year.

Klien said: "Today was basically the deadline and if I wanted to go to Champ Car with Red Bull support then I had to sign today.

"But I cannot sign today and I did not sign today because I am still in contact with other teams in F1. My focus is to stay in F1.

"I still have options in F1. I am still in contact with other teams and if I signed today then F1 is gone."

Klien pointed to the example of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais as a prime reason not to move stateside.

After winning the International Formula 3000 title in 2002, Bourdais chose a ChampCar race seat with Newman/Haas Racing over a Renault test drive.

Despite looking odds-on for a third straight ChampCar title this year, Bourdais has long since admitted defeat in his attempts to sign a top race deal in Formula One.

Klien, who does not want to go the same way, said: "If I go to ChampCar now, it will be very difficult to come back.

“Sebastien Bourdais won the championship three times now, but nobody talks about him at all."

Klien's decision to reject the ChampCar offer may result in the end of his relationship with Red Bull, who have backed his career for many years.

Red Bull's special racing advisor Helmut Marko said last week that if Klien rejected the move, he would offer the ChampCar seat to Toro Rosso test driver Neel Jani.