Alonso happy to confirm Ferrari pace

Alonso, in his first race with Ferrari, was quickest in the first qualifying segment but then had to settle for a place outside the front row, behind Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Felipe Massa.

The two-time champion was still delighted with Ferrari's form.

"I am very happy obviously," said Alonso. "At is the first race, there are many things to answer in the first race with a long winter with a big difference in fuel loads, in all the tests and yesterday in practice, you never know what the competitors are running.

"We were excited about the first qualifying of the season, so now to have both drivers in the top three means we have a very competitive car. We thought so, but you need to confirm and it has been great, a great day and I think it is some kind of nice feeling to realise that we are in the fight because you never know until qualifying."

The Spaniard is now looking forward to score solid points in the race.

"You never now how you will start the new championship with a big change in the regulations this, and for me also changing teams," he added. "For me everything has been great and it is a very good start. Now we were in equal conditions, qualifying with no fuel showed the potential of the cars, so it showed we have a good car.

"It is very important to start scoring points from the first race."

Alonso said Ferrari was not planning a fixed strategy for Sunday, as he feels being flexible will be key to winning races this year.

He added: "I don't know what the strategy will be, you need to be flexible, clever enough to understand the race, understand the situation, make pitstops wherever is necessary. This will not be determined or planned, we will be very flexible."