Klien working in Williams simulator

An Austrian influence is growing at Williams, the famous British F1 team.

The team’s 15 per cent shareholder is Christian ’Toto’ Wolff, and given Adam Parr’s recent departure he is now tipped as Sir Frank Williams’ natural successor.

Indeed, now a regular presence at grands prix, his influence is clearly growing.

The driver he manages, Valtteri Bottas, is tipped to step into the race cockpit soon, while his wife Susie Stoddart is now a team test driver.

His countryman Alex Wurz mentors the drivers at Williams, and now it emerges that yet another Austrian is on the books.

Christian Klien, who most recently raced with HRT in late 2010, now spends a lot of time in Williams’ state-of-the-art driver simulator at Grove.

The ORF broadcaster reported that, during a race weekend, 29-year-old Klien evaluates setups in the simulator, reporting back his findings to the race team.

"It has become an industry standard," Alex Wurz confirmed.