It's Vettel, not Alonso, who needs Raikkonen

Fernando Alonso's raised eyebrows said all you needed to know.

When someone asked Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali in the pre-Singapore Grand Prix press briefing whether or not the signing of Kimi Raikkonen would help lift his current number one driver's performances and motivation, those Alonso brows betrayed exactly what he thought.

Not a chance!

However much observers have suggested that Ferrari's signing of Raikkonen for 2014 will boost Alonso by pushing him to ever-greater heights, there's another school of thought - one that the man himself agrees with, judging by his body language - that he's already doing fine without the Iceman, thanks very much.

These may be tough days for Alonso, with his title dreams for 2013 effectively over as Sebastian Vettel roars on to ever-more-dominant victories, but the two-time champion is still producing his side of the bargain.

Alonso storms around the outside of the pack at the start © XPB

Alonso may have felt "sad" that Ferrari's Singapore developments - which he was at pains to explain his team had been working on around the clock for weeks - delivered no more than a 0.1-seconds-per-lap improvement.

But he proved simply sensational in that one moment of a grand prix weekend when the greats excel irrespective of the car they are in: the start.

The world's focus was on Nico Rosberg's and Sebastian Vettel's battle for the lead at the first corner, and it was a shock when, out of the frenzy of snaking cars weaving their way onto the short straight down to Turn 5, it was that red car and the blue-and-yellow helmet that had done it again and hauled up near the front.

Alonso had pulled off an audacious move around the outside of Turn 1 to move up to third. "You can't be upset," said Lotus's Alan Permane. "I defy anyone to keep Fernando behind them on the first lap."

Alonso doesn't need a quick team-mate to push him on - he's still as hungry, brilliant and devastatingly fast as he ever was. What he needs is a better car to be able to take the fight to that #1 Red Bull.

To have a chance in that fight he doesn't need Raikkonen to push him on; he needs Ferrari's new windtunnel to come back on tap and produce the goods swiftly.

He needs the reinvigorated Maranello technical team, bolstered by the arrival of James Allison and Dirk de Beer, to ensure that development updates produce more than one tenth.

And he needs to be sure that Maranello engine boffins led by Luca Marmorini are ready for the supreme challenge posed by the 2014 turbo V6 regulations.

Vettel was a class apart in Singapore © XPB

Amid the fallout of the Singapore Grand Prix, and the discussions on Sunday night about why so many of the sport's fans have cast Vettel as a villain, you could actually argue that perhaps Vettel would have been better off if his bosses had taken Raikkonen over Daniel Ricciardo.

Yes, there are fully-understandable long term reasons for the Ricciardo choice, and he will almost certainly deliver some sensational results over the next few years, but for Vettel, the arrival of a big star alongside him would have been much better on a personal level.

Like Alonso, Vettel is performing sensationally. His pace in Singapore, when circumstances dictated that he finally needed to unleash his and the car's full speed, showed what an amazing combination he and his RB9 are.

To be two to three seconds per lap quicker than everyone else at frequent stages of the Marina Bay race was staggering and served as a reminder to rivals, especially Ferrari, about the gulf they still need to cross before they can think about snatching a title from Milton Keynes.

Vettel is taking great joy from his success, but the unpopularity and the booing during podium ceremonies is nagging him.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner openly admitted that, while Vettel was able to laugh off the heckling in public, his man was not particularly enjoying the experience.

Vettel is getting a rough reception on the podium © LAT

Whatever your thoughts on the booing, it's clear that the German isn't clicking with fans in the same way as Alonso, Raikkonen, and even Michael Schumacher in his comeback. That's why he has become the pantomime villain.

There are multiple reasons. Yes, fans never like it when one man keeps winning all the time - but the booing only started this season, and Vettel has enjoyed similarly dominant periods.

The roots of the current booing go back to March's Malaysian Grand Prix and the team-orders controversy. That was a huge game-changer in the perception of Vettel.

Public annoyance over Vettel's 'chosen-one' status from the Red Bull top brass, and the scepticism from Istanbul and Silverstone 2010 in feeling that Mark Webber was treated as a 'number two', were reinforced vigorously when he ignored the 'Multi-21' order and stole victory.

Malaysia may not have surprised the team, which has known for a while that its two men don't get along so well. But it was a new thing for the public to see that breakdown in relations, and a lot of people didn't like it. It just wasn't cricket.

The Malaysia team row soured views of Vettel © XPB

Against that background - and the subsequent lack of an apology to Webber - it has become easy to make Vettel the villain of the piece.

What started as a one-off in Ferrari-mad Montreal - where some fans didn't like Alonso's absence from the top step - has gathered momentum. And, like a wave, it's carrying on.

There's nothing Vettel can do now to roll back to a time before Malaysia, and his single-handed domination of F1 is only serving to fuel the feelings against him.

Perhaps the only way for people to reappraise him would have been to put him up against an established star, so everyone could fully appreciate how good he is.

Those in the paddock know that what was unleashed last Sunday in Singapore was evidence of a supreme talent doing amazing things in a brilliant car. And yet it's often hard to separate how much of that speed is driver, and how much is car.

Webber only has a few grands prix left © LAT

Webber struggled to match Vettel's pace last weekend, especially on the super-soft tyre, but the pace difference in the race had some suggesting that it was more down to the Australian not being at his sharpest as he sees out the final races of his F1 career than an exhibition of Vettel's brilliance.

But had Vettel delivered the same tour de force over Raikkonen - someone the fans know, love and appreciate as mega-fast - in the sister car, would he get booed?

No. You'd have to take your hat off to him and applaud.

What a strange state of affairs for two of F1's mega-talents, with Alonso and Vettel both having what the other needs.

Alonso could do with a car that will allow his talent to shine and deliver the world titles that he knows are still inside him.

Vettel could do with a team-mate in the other car - as Alonso will have in 2014 - who will convince the world he is a real ace, not just someone with a brilliant car and bosses who do everything they can to make his life easy.

But each man's teams are taking a different path. And there's nothing Alonso and Vettel can do to change it.