However, looking back at how things unfolded on the Albert Park circuit and knowing that he didn't tackle the season opening round with very high expectations, the Spaniard insisted that his result in Australia is far from catastrophic. In fact, hadn't it been for his unfortunate start that sent him back to 9th place after the first couple of corners, he could have realistically hoped for a podium finish.
“It wasn't the start that we all wanted but nor is it anything to get worried about,” he said in a race review for Ferrari. “I already said it at the track: 12 points is not far below the world champion's average last year and two title contenders finished behind me.”
“So overall the Australian Grand Prix can't be defined as disastrous. Certainly, in qualifying we were very far from Vettel's Red Bull and far from Hamilton's McLaren but in the race the situation improved – perhaps not compared to Sebastian but certainly against the others.”
Additionally, he found one positive aspect of the race Down Under, and that's the improved level of durability of the new Pirelli tires.
“The only positive surprise was the behavior of the Pirelli tires which, at least at Albert Park, showed less degradation than what we saw at the test. We will see how things go in Malaysia at Sepang, on a track that is very different to the semi-street circuit of Albert Park.”
In the meantime, Ferrari have already gotten to the bottom of their Australia GP issues, as it seems the problem rested in the poor front downforce of their 150 Italia challenger. According to team principal Stefano Domenicali, that issue will be addressed as soon as possible and will be fixed before the race in Malaysia.
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