Red Bull’s Rob Marshal has confirmed that Sebastian Vettel will receive a new chassis for the Spanish Grand Prix – something that had been planned since the start of the season.
The German has been struggling to match team-mate Daniel Ricciardo’s pace, which led to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko suggesting the chassis may be to blame.
Marshal refused to comment on the specifics, but said the change had always been planned and isn’t necessarily in response to Vettel’s stuggles.
“Sebastian will get a new chassis for Barcelona, which was scheduled at the start of the season,” he said, adding: “then the next one will be for Daniel at some time around Silverstone,” he confirmed.
When asked if it would provide Vettel with an advantage, he replied: “It shouldn’t, as the idea is that they are all the same.
“Drivers don’t always want to change them – they can get attached to a particular chassis and when they are on a good run they like to hang on to it for as long as possible!
“From our point of view we’d rather give them one or two new chassis during the season that we have been able to check out in the factory using various testing methods.”
