Ferrari appeared to be one of the strongest teams over the winter, but as the first race of the year began, their pace wasn't so obvious. Fernando Alonso started the Grand Prix in fifth position, after a less-than-storming qualifying session.

In the race, the Spaniard managed to gain a position and had a solid race. In the closing laps, he was catching up to third place Vitaly Petrov but was unable to overhaul the gap to get on the podium.

Once the racing was over, Alonso was philosophical about his performance out on track: "If you just look at the classification, this is not such a bad result; yes we have lost ground to Vettel and Hamilton, although we have done better than Webber and Button. Here at Albert Park, it seems that I have a season ticket for fourth place, as it's the third time in four years that I've finished the race in this position."