Ferrari may not have had the qualifying pace of Mercedes in Australia, but Kimi Raikkonen believes their race speed bodes well for the Formula One season.
Both Sebastian Vettel and Raikkonen impressed behind the dominant Mercedes in Melbourne after qualifying fourth and fifth, with Vettel sealing a podium finish.
Things did not go as well for Raikkonen as he was forced to retire on lap 40, but the Finn saw enough to give him the belief his team can challenge for race wins in 2015.
"Obviously we are in a much better position than we were, say, even at the end of last year so in that way it's a nice place to be but obviously we still have to improve quite a bit," he said.
"We want to be in front and we still don't have the speed exactly, at least in qualifying, to be there. In the race I think we are a bit stronger compared to Mercedes.
"I think it will be a fun year, obviously not an ideal start of the year and we got some damage from the start and had those issues in the pit stops but you know it can happen sometimes. At least we had pretty good speed.
"I'm sure we're going to have strong races and good battles but like I said we still have some work to do to be absolutely where we want to be, but we have done a good job so far."