No guarantees for Klien

The Austrian drove for Jaguar this year and has been supported by Red Bull throughout his career. With former Jaguar driver Mark Webber switching to Williams next year, Klien is the obvious choice to provide stability to the new team next year. Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has already said that the Austrian deserves another year in F1.

But Klien was not getting carried away and insists the Red Bull support he has received in the past does not necessarily mean he will be given a seat with the team in 2005.

"I am very happy with the current development and am very glad Red Bull took this decision," he told the Red Bull Junior Team website. "I am one of those who knows best how hard everybody has worked on the upcoming season, despite all the insecurity.

"For my personal future it is still too early to say something definite though, since my future has never been, and is not, linked to Red Bull buying Jaguar. Dietrich Mateschitz did not buy Jaguar so that I have a seat in a Formula One car next year.

"There will be F1 tests from November 24th in Barcelona and then I hope to know a lot more about my future. My chances are better now, of course, than they were a couple of weeks ago, but still nothing is definite at this stage."

Red Bull's team principal Tony Purnell has refused to talk about the team's driver choice, but did admit on Monday that former McLaren driver David Coulthard would also be considered while fellow Red Bull drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed are also thought to be on the team's shortlist.