Whitmarsh: Don't write Ferrari off

The Italian squad left Melbourne with just one point after Kimi Raikkonen was elevated to eighth place following the exclusion of Honda's Rubens Barrichello.

Raikkonen, however, did not finish the race due to an engine problem, which also struck teammate Felipe Massa.

McLaren, on the other hand, had a great day, with Lewis Hamilton taking a commanding victory.

Whitmarsh, however, reckons McLaren and Ferrari are evenly matched, and he admits the Italian team underperformed.

"We had a solid winter test programme and it's clear we're competitive," said Whitmarsh. "I think some pundits believed Ferrari would be stronger than us and, at some tests, they were.

"By our assessment, though, things were very close between the two teams before we came to Australia and some of our other rivals weren't far behind.

"I think Ferrari underperformed in Melbourne but we shouldn't be writing them off. They have great depth and we have no illusions about this.

"This time last year we sat here having been soundly beaten but we were able to regroup and dominate the following race in Malaysia - we need to make sure that trend isn't reversed in 2008. I think we'll be strong at Sepang."

Whitmarsh says the team will continue to push hard and he is under no illusions that the season will be easy.

"We're not perfect and we recognise things that can be improved in the way we operate, so we're not going away from Melbourne thinking this season is going to be easy," he said.

"We want to win as many races as we can and, hopefully, that will add up to a world championship."