Sebastian Vettel has named his new 2012 Red Bull chassis ‘Abbey’.
With the Adrian Newey-penned RB8, the 24-year-old German will push to become F1′s third-ever triple consecutive world champion, after Juan Manuel Fangio and mentor Michael Schumacher.

Recently, the highly-superstitious German has given his F1 cars a female name — the 2010 winner was Luscious Liz, and last year’s dominant RB7 ‘Kinky Kylie’.

So superstitious is Vettel that – as in 2011 – he has waited until the Wednesday before the season-opening Australian grand prix to decide the new name.

Germany’s Bild newspaper said Vettel’s 2012 mount is ‘Abbey’ — perhaps after his favourite band The Beatles’ album Abbey Road, or the Silverstone corner?

“Neither is true,” he insisted, “it’s just a cool name.”

Every time Sebastian Vettel wins in 2011, he adds another smile to his collection.
Germany’s Bild newspaper reports that there are seven small ‘smiley’ stickers aligned in a row inside the cockpit of the runaway championship leader’s Red Bull.

One was added to ‘Luscious Liz’ after each of his seven 2011 victories so far in Australia, Malaysia, Turkey, Barcelona, Monaco, Valencia and Spa two weeks ago.

The 24-year-old confirmed at Monza: “(Adding) the faces was my idea. It’s an old tradition.”

He is referring to 2004, when a large yellow smiley sticker was added to the exterior livery of his formula BMW car after every win.

“By the end of the year the nose was almost completely covered in them,” laughed Vettel, who as a seventeen year old won 18 of the 20 races.

Sebastian Vettel has revealed that he is yet to think up a name for his new formula one car.
Last year, the 23-year-old won his first title at the wheel of Randy Mandy, after the original RB6 named Luscious Liz was replaced due to damage after Monaco.

The giving of an amorous female name has become one of the Red Bull driver’s several F1-related superstitions, including the sliding of a lucky coin behind his boot laces.

When asked about his new RB7 wearing the coveted number 1 as it was launched at Valencia on Tuesday, Vettel told Welt newspaper: “The number looks good.

“I saw the car in one piece for the first time this morning. So I haven’t got a name for her yet,” he revealed.

Vettel was also asked about reports that his friend Michael Schumacher suffers from motion sickness at the wheel of driver simulators.

As for whether he has also been sick in a sim, he smiled: “Once, but only very briefly.

“I think it’s an important tool with testing so limited, especially with regards to (learning) the tracks,” added Vettel.

Mark Webber has played down suggestions his allocation of chassis for the British grand prix demonstrates he is not treated equally with his teammate.

After his Barcelona and Monaco-winning car was damaged in his spectacular Valencia crash, the Australian will drive ‘Luscious Liz’ at Silverstone — the chassis humorously named by Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of the season.

But after sub-standard performances in May, Vettel was given a new car in Turkey.

Red Bull has now repaired Luscious Liz.

“There was nothing wrong with it. It’s fine. It’s all we’ve got anyway,” Webber told reporters at the team’s Milton Keynes factory on Wednesday.

Also fully fit for this weekend’s race is the Australian himself, despite some minor injuries caused by his backflip crash with Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus.

“I had a bit of whiplash, and I bashed my right foot pretty hard on the top of the chassis,” he revealed.

“I knew straight away that I’d hit my big toe pretty hard (but) you could injure yourself more in your lounge room.”

Meanwhile, Webber made clear his opinion after Lotus technical boss blamed him for the Valencia crash.

When British reporter Byron Young, of the Mirror, virtually launched his car whilst driving the Red Bull simulator, Webber observed wryly: “You didn’t even have any shitboxes to avoid.”

Red Bull driver Mark Webber will be at the wheel of ‘Luscious Liz’ at this weekend’s British grand prix.

The RB6 chassis was named by his teammate Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of the season, before it sustained damage and the German underperformed while Webber dominated in Barcelona and Monaco.

So Vettel, 23, stepped into the winter testing chassis and called it ‘Randy Mandy’.

Meanwhile, the car driven to Webber’s earlier emphatic wins this season has been temporarily retired after his backflip in the recent European grand prix.

After a tour of the team’s Milton Keynes factory on Wednesday, the news agency PA said Webber will now race Vettel’s earlier chassis.

The crashed car, currently featuring scrawled messages including ‘RIP’ courtesy of the mechanics, is now being repaired and will be used as the spare monocoque in Britain.

“I don’t get attached to cars, but clearly that one was unique,” said Webber, 33.

He revealed that after he won at Monaco, the team promised him he could keep the RB6.

“They’ll probably give me something else (now),” he added. “But the car did a great job for me in two cases. It won races for me, and it looked after me when I needed it.”

Webber’s new car is unlikely to feature the ‘Luscious Liz’ signage on the dashboard, with the Australian admitting his relationship with German Vettel is “pretty good” after their Istanbul crash but they don’t get on “like a house on fire”.

“If Seb’s drowning in the ocean then I’ll go and help him out. It’s not easy to have a beautiful, fuzzy, warm relationship when your teammate is clearly a competitor,” he said.

Sebastian Vettel has named his latest RB6 chassis ‘Randy Mandy’.

Giving his cars an amorous female name has become one of the 22-year-old German’s several F1-related superstitions.

He religiously steps into his cars and dismounts from the left-hand side, and slides a lucky coin behind the laces of his boot.

Vettel called his original 2010 Red Bull ‘Luscious Liz’, following on from its 2009 predecessor ‘Kate’s Dirty Sister’.

But Luscious Liz has been retired after the team found damage in the wake of the Spain/Monaco double-header, dominated emphatically by his teammate Mark Webber.

It emerges that Vettel will now be at the wheel of the fully-updated test car.

It has been a warm and sunny day at Istanbul Park, and more of the same ‘t-shirt weather’ is expected throughout the Turkish GP weekend.

(GMM)