Vettel Had Damaged Chassis in Spain, Monaco

To say that Red Bull's Mark Webber overshadowed his younger and highly-rated teammate Sebastian Vettel in the last couple of races would be an understatement. The Australian racer was simply untouchable in the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix, where he won in commanding fashion and climbed all the way to the top of the overall classification, level on points with the 22-year old German.

However, according to Germany's Auto Bild Motorsport, it wasn't so much Webber's form but Vettel's handling problems with the new RB6 that caused this state of events in the Red Bull garage. The German publication revealed that the chassis used by Vettel in the last two races was closely inspected by the Red Bull engineers in recent days, and a damage has been identified.

“We have found a defect in Sebastian's chassis. For the next race in Turkey, he will have a new chassis,” Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner confirmed for the aforementioned source.

In the Spanish Grand Prix, while trailing Webber in 2nd place, Vettel suffered a brake-related problem that later demoted him to 3rd overall at the finish line. The team discovered the incident had been caused by a split brake disc. Both in Spain and Monaco though, the German drivers reportedly struggled with the car's balance.

Horner continued by saying that Vettel will recover quickly from his poor form in recent weeks – as compared to his teammate, obviously – and the new chassis he'll benefit from in Turkey should lead to a first step towards that direction.

“Sebastian began the season in great shape and I am sure he will bounce back at the next race,” added the Red Bull boss. “In Barcelona and Monaco, Mark was simply stronger, he had more confidence and felt more comfortable in the car. In contrast, Sebastian complained several times about the balance of the car.”