Christian Klien hired by Spyker

Silverstone, England:

Christian Klien will test for the Spyker team this week and may be in line for a full return to a Formula One race seat.

Honda agreed to release the Austrian driver, who was already at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium where both teams are testing.

Spyker, which announced the move on Wednesday, is seeking a driver after it fired Christijan Albers on Tuesday when one of his personal sponsors failed to come up with promised money.

The 24-year-old Klien had been test and reserve driver for Honda after losing his place with Red Bull for the last three races of last season.

Spyker said it had not yet decided whether to hand Klien a race seat for the rest of the season.

"There are many elements to be considered before we can make our final decision on drivers and we will carefully evaluate all the options over the coming days before making any announcement," the team said in a statement.

Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan has also been mentioned as a possible replacement for Albers.

The next F1 race is the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on July 22.

Klien has scored 14 points in his 46-race career.