Australian GP: Williams's Felipe Massa says Mercedes a class apart

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg comfortably locked out the front row of the grid in Melbourne, with Massa best of the rest for Williams, 1.4 second adrift of pole.

"It's not great to see this difference but we keep working, we keep fighting and I hope that we can get as close as we can," said Massa after qualifying.

"They are in a different category to the others. We are working to try to bring as many upgrades as possible - this is definitely just the start.

"We need to try and repeat the development that we did last year, but even more intense."

RED BULL MISSING OUT

Williams was expected to be part of a battle with Ferrari and Red Bull for best of the rest behind Mercedes, but that appears to be a two-way fight at the moment with Daniel Ricciardo only managing to take seventh for the Renault-powered team.

Massa believes that there is little to choose between Williams and Ferrari, as both teams fought over the second and third rows of the grid.

"The fight is really tough with Ferrari," he said. "It won't be easy - definitely the race is against Ferrari.

"They are really strong, they made a big step forward compared to last year.

"I'm sure tomorrow we need to be a bit more worried about Ferrari, but we need to keep our eyes open for the others.

"Red Bull is not really there at the moment, but I'm sure they will get there and be strong.

"The rules are similar to last year and they finished ahead of us so they are going to come."