Buemi praises Toro Rosso's form

The Swiss driver took tenth place in the Melbourne race, but he claimed a better result was possible given the pace of the car.

Buemi was also left lamenting an incident with team-mate Jaime Alguersuari, after the duo made contact on the opening lap.

"It's not too bad finishing tenth, after making it to Q3 yesterday, but I think I could have done better, maybe an eighth or ninth place was possible," said Buemi. "It's a shame that my team-mate and I made contact at the first corner.

"It's not the first time it has happened, so I think we will be having a chat about it after I've watched a recording of the incident!

"Towards the end, I was not able to hold off Massa, who was much quicker than me at that point, but I am still pleased with the result.

"Overall, I would say we are definitely more competitive than last year and now we must continue to move forward, bringing further improvements to the car. It has been a positive start and we will have a lot to learn from analysing this whole weekend and then we will see what we can do in Malaysia."

Alguersuari went on to finish in 13th position after having to pit on the first lap following contact with Mercedes's Michael Schumacher.

"I got a good start, moving up to about tenth or eleventh place I think," he said. "Then, coming into Turn 2, Michael (Schumacher) cut the corner as he was having a go around the outside, while I was on the inside. The result was that he touched my front wing and I had to come in to change it.

"He could not have avoided doing it, as I was already in the middle of the corner. That meant I had an extra stop, which effectively ended my chances of getting a good result. I have to say my car worked well, with quite a good pace. I am pleased to have finished the first race and now we must look at what we can do to improve further for Malaysia."