Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg

While Vettel has been robustly supported by the majority of the paddock in the wake of being heckled on the podium at Singapore, it appears that the German's comments in the aftermath of his dominant victory have also caused considerable irritation in some quarters.

"Whilst there's a lot of people hanging their b***s in the pool on Fridays, we're still working very hard and pushing very hard so that we have a strong race," said Vettel on the Singapore podium.

The German has subsequently downplayed his remark, insisting it wasn't meant as an attack on his team's rivals, but that hasn't spared Vettel from a dressing-down by both Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button.

"Sebastian brings the boos on himself. He talks about my b***s that I hang in the pool and then the boos come. My guys are working hard day and night. He couldn't know if his boys work harder. We give it full throttle. His comments are aloof and were almost his undoing qualifying," said an angry Rosberg.

"I almost stole pole from him and if I had I would have laughed. Sebastian should think less about my b***s and more about himself. With comments like that he is running the risk of losing the respect of his fellow drivers."

McLaren driver Button was equally unimpressed with Vettel's description, and the 2009 World Champion told the Daily Mail: "It is incorrect and wrong of him to say that.

"We are obviously not doing a good enough job to beat Red Bull and no one is at the moment but that doesn't mean we are not working hard. Every team is working as hard as Red Bull."

But despite the criticism, and the loss of top spot to Lewis Hamilton in practice in Korea after previously topping five successive Fridays, it seems Vettel has not lost his sense of mischief.

"Overall a pretty solid day, we had no issues with the car, and there is room for improvement - especially once we turn on the Traction Control," Vettel quipped to Sky Sports News.

Red Bull have strongly denied allegations that surfaced in the wake of Vettel's dominant win in Singapore that they are running a form of traction control on their RB9, Team Principal Christian Horner describing the claims as "complete rubbish".

Qualifying for the Korean GP begins at 6am on Saturday morning with Sky Sports F1's race show underway at 5.30am on Sunday