Massa happy with best-ever start

After finishing second in the season opener in Bahrain, the Brazilian took third in Melbourne today after several wheel-to-wheel fights, and held off Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso.

"I had a fantastic start, without wheelspin, and I saw many cars, especially Fernando and [Mark] Webber having some wheelspin," said Massa. "I did a very smooth start and passed them in a very good way. I was happy with the start and whole race was very difficult, very slippery and low grip everywhere.

"My best result in Australia before was sixth, and in 2007 I had problems in qualifying and started last. It's not the best race for me in terms of pace, and we lost some positions at the pitstop and a bit on track because of mistakes, so it is fantastic to have one second and one third.

"We know how important this is for the championship and in the past I have not scored as many points as I have now. The team did a fantastic job today and I'm happy to finish third in a difficult race like this."