Massa left with mixed feelings

The Brazilian Ferrari driver was one of the main favourites to fight for victory in Melbourne, but a gearbox problem during qualifying left him down in 16th position.

Ferrari decided to change his engine before the start of the race, and Massa took the start from the back.

But Massa, whose teammate Kimi Raikkonen won the race, fought his way through the field and finished in sixth position, right behind the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella.

"Both of us had a great race," Massa told RAI. "We showed what we and our car can do.

"On the one hand I'm absolutely not happy because of yesterday, but on the other hand I'm happy because we did a good race, we couldn't do more than this, with the traffic and so many cars to overtake, where I lost a lot of time. To finish sixth is a good result.

"I believe I could challenge Fisichella for fifth place, but Renault's top speed is high, so it was difficult to get close to try something. I wasn't close enough to overtake him.

"I must say our tyres worked very well, the soft tyre which we used at the start too. The car was always well balanced."

Massa was happy with Ferrari's performance during the weekend, but he is hoping the team can solve the problems that hindered him on Saturday.

"I think we are in a good position for the first three races," he said. "We have a very good basis, and we must sort out all the gremlins we had this weekend in order not to have them next time around, but I'm satisfied, and the car is good for the first three races."