Motor racing-Team by team analysis of Australian Grand Prix

March 17 (Reuters) - Team by team analysis of Sunday's Australian Formula One Grand Prix (listed in championship order):

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FERRARI (Fernando Alonso 2, Felipe Massa 4)

Alonso started the season on the podium, a big improvement on last year where he finished fifth. Both drivers made three stops, starting on super-softs. Massa continued the resurgence he showed at the end of last year and might have got on the podium too had he brought forward his second stop.

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LOTUS (Kimi Raikkonen 1, Romain Grosjean 10)

Raikkonen's 20th career win, equalling compatriot Mika Hakkinen's tally, and second of his comeback. His first in a season-opener since 2007, when he took his title with Ferrari. The first win in an opener by a team called Lotus since 1978, when Mario Andretti won in Argentina. Raikkonen made just two stops and said it was probably one of his easiest wins. Grosjean said something felt wrong with his car.

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RED BULL (Sebastian Vettel 3, Mark Webber 6)

Triple champion Vettel started on pole but the car proved too aggressive on the tyres during the race. Webber started alongside on the front row but car-to-pit telemetry problems on the grid and an ECU-related KERS failure meant he was on the back-foot right away. The Australian also had a slow pitstop due to a front jack failure.

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MERCEDES (Lewis Hamilton 5, Nico Rosberg retired)

Hamilton started third but could not hold on that placing, slipping back down the order and fighting a good battle with Force India's Sutil. Still a promising Mercedes race debut for the 2008 champion, who made three stops. Rosberg retired with an electrical problem on lap 27 while in third place. He had been on a two-stop strategy.

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FORCE INDIA (Adrian Sutil 7, Paul Di Resta 8)

Sutil grabbed his second chance with both hands in his comeback race after a year away, leading the race on two occasions. He started on the medium tyres and a two-stop strategy. Di Resta lost time behind three-stoppers at the start of his second stint.

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MCLAREN (Jenson Button 9, Sergio Perez 11)

Button, winner three times in the past four years in Melbourne, felt he had got the most out of a car struggling for pace. His meagre haul took his career points tally to 1,001. Perez made his debut for the team in 15th place on the grid. The Mexican has now not scored in seven successive races. Both drivers did three pitstops.

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TORO ROSSO (Jean-Eric Vergne 12, Daniel Ricciardo retired)

Vergne went through a gravel trap at the start, from 13th on the grid, but was in a scoring position until the closing laps. Ricciardo retired from his home race with an exhaust problem.

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SAUBER (Esteban Gutierrez 13, Nico Hulkenberg did not start)

Gutierrez was the highest finisher of the five rookies, fighting back from 18th on the grid. Hulkenberg qualified 11th but did not start after a fuel system problem was detected.

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WILLIAMS (Valtteri Bottas 14, Pastor Maldonado retired)

A solid race debut for Bottas, who started on the super-soft option tyres. Maldonado started 17th and was the first retirement after beaching his car in the gravel.

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MARUSSIA (Jules Bianchi 15, Max Chilton 17)

A solid debut for both rookies. Chilton made contact early on with Van der Garde's Caterham and had to make a long pitstop for a new front wing.

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CATERHAM (Charles Pic 16, Giedo van der Garde 18)

Pic made two stops, Van der Garde three. The Dutchman had a slow puncture on his second set of tyres. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Justin Palmer)

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Motor racing-Ferrari doubt they will be fastest in Australia

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Ferrari are unlikely to have the fastest car when the Formula One season starts in Australia next month but they hope to be close enough for Fernando Alonso to make the difference, according to team principal Stefano Domenicali.

"The situation at the moment seems to be alright, alright with the programme that we have," the Italian told Reuters at a Motor Sport magazine Hall of Fame event in London late on Monday.

"The target is to be close together with the leading cars...I would be very surprised if it was the quickest (car) at the first race. But if we are all close together in a couple of tenths, then the season is really long and everything is possible."

Ferrari started last season with a car that was tricky to drive and some way off the pace but Alonso kept them in the hunt with some remarkable drives while the team pulled out all the stops to narrow the performance gap.

By mid-season, the Spaniard had a comfortable lead in the championship that was then eroded in the latter half by a resurgent Sebastian Vettel who reeled off a string of wins for Red Bull.

The end result was Vettel's third successive title but the German and Alonso were still fighting for it all the way to the final race in Brazil.

Domenicali said the situation was very different from February last year, when Brazilian Felipe Massa first tested the F2012 and rang Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo to tell him the bad news.

"It's another world," said Domenicali. "It's a totally different situation but we cannot underestimate that everyone is doing a good job, and as far as we can see from the tests I don't see a lot of changes in respect of what we saw at the end (of last year)."

Eight drivers from four teams - Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Lotus - have been fastest over the eight days of testing so far although the Red Bull drivers have also sounded happy with their car's performance.

Domenicali said the biggest challenge all teams faced in the first few races would be the new-version Pirelli tyres, designed to degrade quicker and create more pitstops.

"We need to make sure that we are close to the best car and then the team and drivers have to make the difference," he added. "In Australia it is not the end of the championship, it's just the start. We need to be careful and stay cool."

The season starts in Melbourne on March 17. (Editing by Clare Fallon)

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