Daniel Ricciardo says Toro Rosso capable of much more than it could show in Australian Grand Prix

The Australian started his final tour of Melbourne Park in 11th, directly behind Toro Rosso stablemate Jean-Eric Vergne and towards the back of a multi-car squabble for the lower order points.

When Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Sergio Perez (Sauber) clashed, Ricciardo pounced, picking off Vergne on the exit of Turn 13 and benefiting from Rosberg's puncture to seal ninth in a 'crazy' end to the grand prix.

Ricciardo reckons however that his race had previously been affected by damage suffered at the start - without which he could have finished even higher up the order.

"It's good to finish ninth, but I think I could have done better," the Australian said. "I made a decent start but there were too many of us there. I hit the left front quite hard against a Williams and had to come in to change the nose. I had to race with a bit of damage after that.

"It was not easy to come back, but I never gave up, pushing all the time. I don't really know how that happened on the last lap.

"I was a bit lucky to be the last one in that group because I could have a clear picture of the other cars going off in front.

"Then I had a chance to attack Jean-Eric. He defended into Turn 13 and I thought I could make the switch back and I did, which put me in P9. The last few laps were crazy and I was pushing like hell.

"I'm extremely happy and it's great to score my first F1 points here at home in Australia, where the crowd has been just fantastic all weekend long."

Vergne also said his race had been complicated by the first lap melee, adding: "I got a super start and I had moved up a few places, but then Webber touched my right rear and I went straight on, losing a lot of time. After that, it was complicated as I was stuck behind cars I could not pass, even if they were considerably slower than me.

"It's just a shame that at the end I tried too hard and lost too much ground. That's racing.

"The car seems to be working well and we were competitive all weekend, so I'm looking forward to getting back on track in Malaysia in a few days."