Vettel wants fresh season start at Monaco

The German has had a difficult start to 2008 - crashing out on the first lap in three of the first four races.

And his misfortune continued when his first race finish of the year in Turkey resulted in him earning a five-place grid penalty for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix because he needs a new gearbox.

When asked by autosport.com if he was having troubling in believing his run of bad luck, Vettel said: "I don't know. I don't believe in bad luck. Sometime it is like that, it is part of the job and part of the game.

"Life is like that in motorsport. Sometimes it is going up and sometimes it is going down. But now I am very happy that we finally have the new car. That is the most important thing. And maybe here is the new start to the season."

Vettel was encouraged by the first test of the new car in Paul Ricard last week, and is hoping it will deliver a good step forward in speed compared to the STR2B that was used for the start off the season.

"I am very confident for the future, let's say," he explained. "I had a very good feeling in the car. For me it is a step forward, but we have to see how much of a step. Hopefully it will be bigger than we ever dreamed of."