Alonso says plenty to come from Ferrari

The Maranello squad was believed to be one of the favourites to fight for victory in Melbourne following a very strong winter of testing.

However, the team was not competitive enough to fight with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel or McLaren's Lewis Hamilton for victory.

Alonso finished in fourth place in the race, over 30 seconds off Vettel.

Although Ferrari will not have any big updates in the Malaysian Grand Prix, the two-time champion is confident Ferrari has potential to take a significant step forward.

"We know we have to improve our performance level, but we are equally aware that in the end, the race result was not such a disaster," Alonso said on Ferrari's website.

"We will have a few minor updates on the car, but nothing very significant, or the sort of thing you could say would be the key to take a leap forward in performance terms.

"I believe we must stay concentrated on our own work and try to understand how to get all the potential out of the 150° Italia and I'm sure there's plenty to come.

"Before we achieve that, it's pointless standing here making predictions about how the weekend will turn out. We just have to tackle it one day at a time."

The Spanish driver admitted the unpredictable weather changes made the grand prix weekend in Sepang somewhat stressful for the team.

"The fact that the weather can change so quickly here makes the preparation work for the various phases of work on track more stressful," he said.

"Suddenly it can go from sunshine to a short sharp shower and you need to be prepared for every eventuality. It's not just a problem for us drivers, as its affects the whole team: in some cases you need to be ready with a plan B or C, or even maybe a D for all the various scenarios."