Ferrari F1 boss says no need to panic over Mercedes' advantage

Sebastian Vettel scored a podium on his Ferrari debut in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, while Kimi Raikkonen was on-course for at least fifth before a wheelnut problem.

It was a much improved performance from a team that was the fourth best on merit in 2014 and it led Arrivabene to suggest Ferrari should focus on Mercedes rather than looking over its shoulder to Williams and Red Bull.

However, the team made mistakes during qualifying, having believed it had a car capable of at P3 on the grid, while Raikkonen encountered problems during both his stops in the race.

And Vettel finished the Australian Grand Prix more than 30 seconds adrift of pace-setter Mercedes, which took a comfortable one-two with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

"It's just a question of continuing like this with our technology, working and respecting our programme without panicking," said Arrivabene.

"We need to also keep the spirit of the team up.

"For the team I was happy, but as a team principal only half of me was happy because one car was stopped on the track and the other guys were on the podium.

"So for me we have done half the job."

Raikkonen said after the Australian GP that he believes Ferrari is much closer to Mercedes in race trim than it is on one-lap pace.

"The car is obviously not fast enough yet but I think the gap is much smaller in the race than qualifying," said the Finn.

"I believe in the race we can be up there and fight at the front."