Three of the drivers who started the season in Bahrain back in March will not be taking part in this weekend's finale in Brazil. But while Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve were architects of the their own departures to varying degrees, and are actively pursuing new careers, Christian Klien was the unfortunate victim of the political hotbed that is Red Bull.
For a decade he was a prodigal son of Dietrich Mateschitz, and it was his arrival in Jaguar in 2004 with personal Red Bull backing that led ultimately to the company buying and rebadging the team. Given his lack of experience - he went straight in from F3 - he hasn't done a bad job over the last three seasons. It's also fair to say that he has not done enough to suggest that he is the next Michael Schumacher (but not many have).
But by most measures he has compared favourably with David Coulthard for the past two years, and bear in mind that last year his season was badly disrupted when he had to hand his car to Tonio Liuzzi for four races, a timeshare arrangement that did neither man any favours.