Red Bull insists no grounds for concern over Australia form

Sebastian Vettel had headed into the first Formula 1 race of the season as clear favourite for victory, but he could manage no better than third behind Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso because he could not look after his tyres as well as his rivals.

Although some have suggested that the tyre scenario could have huge implications for the rest of the year, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is adamant his outfit will get on top of the situation.

"Nobody in the team is leaving here despondent or disheartened by the race," said Horner.

"We have had a very, very solid weekend, but found ourselves a bit out of the window with the tyre in the race. We have got a quick car."

When asked by AUTOSPORT if having a more consistent challenger like the Lotus could be better than simply having a fast car, Horner said: "I think the first thing is to have a fast car.

"Then the second thing is to make sure that that car uses the tyres correctly.

"There are a lot of lessons learned from today which I hope will be relevant for cool races in the future."

Horner thinks the fact that Mark Webber did not suffer from tyre degradation as much as Vettel points to the set-up on the world champion's car being a key factor, rather than being an inherent characteristic of the RB9.

"We have a good car, which was competitive through practice [and qualifying]," he added. "Our least competitive moments were during the race.

"Mark was very competitive in the race and had better tyre durability so we have to look at it. The differences were in set-up between the drivers."