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Vettel Nicknames New Car 'Randy Mandy'

Sebastian Vettel will be trying to bring his winless streak to an end this weekend, when he'll tackle the Turkish Grand Prix with a brand new car. As we've mentioned in some of our previous reports, the car that the German driver used in the last couple of races suffered some unmentioned damage in the first European rounds of 2010 and the team had to replace it with a new one.

As we all know, Vettel has somewhat of a habit to nickname his cars each season. The one he used in the first 6 rounds of the season was named “Luscious Liz”, as the car took over from its 2009 predecessor, the Red Bull RB5, known as “Kate's Dirty Sister”.

The new RB6 was developed on a brand new chassis, meaning this will be an entirely different car – although with the exact same aerodynamic specifications as the former. Consequently, Vettel went on to baptize it, naming it “Randy Mandy”. Just before he stepped in the car, he slid a lucky coin behind the laces of his boot, after carefully dismounting from the left-hand side.

In both Barcelona and Monaco, teammate Mark Webber scored some impressive wins from pole position, making everyone reconsider their Red Bull favorite for the world title. However, Vettel admitted this scenario happened because his car was damaged, although he didn't mention what exactly happened with it or when.

I think it (the damage) explains a lot and on top of that we found also other things that weren't in proper shape anymore. Whereas he (Webber) always seemed to be quite happy, I wasn't,” said Vettel in an interview with some reporters in Turkey.

Asked by the reporters if the damaged chassis played any role in him being so dominant within the Red Bull lineup in the last couple of races, Webber pleaded neutrality.

Obviously I wasn't driving his car, so it's difficult to know, to be honest. We'll see,” said the 33-year old Australian.
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