It's Vettel, not Alonso, who needs Raikkonen

Some reckon Ferrari hired Kimi Raikkonen to spur Fernando Alonso on. But JONATHAN NOBLE thinks it's Sebastian Vettel who needs the Iceman as a team-mate

Author Jonathan Noble

Published Sep 24, 2013, 8:14 PM

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.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.