Jaguar Boss: Klien May Have Come In Too Early

Jaguar might have been better off with a more experienced driver than Austrian Christian Klien this year, according to the Formula One team's managing director David Pitchforth.

The 21-year-old rookie, one of three drivers yet to score a point halfway through the season, joined the Ford-owned team after bringing significant funding from Austrian energy drink sponsor Red Bull.

"We lobbied Red Bull very hard to make Christian the tester and put somebody more experienced in the race seat," Britain's Motorsport News weekly quoted Pitchforth as saying. "I think they now admit that maybe that was the better move."

Klien replaced Briton Justin Wilson, who scored one point in five races for the team last year after taking over from under-performing Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia. Australian Mark Webber, who has scored three points, is expected to leave for Williams at the end of the year.

Jaguar are ninth of the 10 teams in the Constructors' Championship after setting a pre-season target of a top-six finish.

"We have missed that particular target and it is going to be hard to reach that now," said Pitchforth.