Rosberg disappointed with fifth

The Williams driver has dominated all practice sessions in Melbourne, but was then unable to turn that into pole position-setting pace.

Rosberg qualified on the third row of the grid, but he reckons his team is in a strong position for the race.

"I think it is a good thing to be a bit disappointed with fifth place," said Rosberg. "Our qualifying session itself was consistent with everything else I have experienced so far and the car has been nice to drive all weekend.

"From the work we have done today, we are in a good position to start the race, perhaps better than we would have imagined when we arrived here.

"We are among the fastest cars but it will be interesting to see what fuel load everybody is running. The start tomorrow of course will be important, but thankfully we will don't have too many cars running KERS close by us and possibly challenging us off the line.

"The big factor tomorrow will be tyres, but I think we have a good strategy and positive reliability, so we have all the tools to do a good job in the race."

Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima was unable to match Rosberg's pace and had to settle for 13th position.

"The car was good enough to make it into Q3 today, but I made a small mistake and it cost me quite a few places," Nakajima said.

"There is however plenty to consider tomorrow and I think I still have a good opportunity, so it will be important to concentrate and get absolutely everything right.

"As it the first race I think there will be plenty going on, which will make it exciting, but challenging."