Despite seeing his race ending at the first corner Williams Martini driver Felipe Massa came away please with the start to the season feeling that the FW36 is in amongst the quicker cars in Formula One.

Despite the race being dominated by the Mercedes of Rosberg Felipe felt that is was a goal that could be obtained in challenging the Mercedes cars.

Felipe said: "It is not impossible" when questioned about the FW36 challenging Mercedes.

"Looking at McLaren definitely they did a good race. They finished both cars in good points and they are leading the championship.

"I would say Australia was a race where we could finish both cars there and a similar position as McLaren, so maybe we were going to be first in the championship.

"Everything is possible now. Looking how we are compared to the others, I would say for the moment Mercedes is too quick compared to us, but after Mercedes everything is open and we can be there."

Felipe is well aware that there are areas of improvement in the 2014 car. He was asked about how he felt and he responded by saying: "I am pretty happy with the car, to be honest. I am pretty happy for the performance we have.

"There is a lot to improve though. You are always thinking about what are the bad things you have in the car, and these bad things mean we lost many places in qualifying.

"So this car has a huge margin to improve, and I am pushing the team really, really hard to improve and go in the direction that I am sure will be better and much more competitive as well.

"There is a lot to do, but looking where we are, I think it is a pretty good start.

"The car is definitely more competitive in the race than qualifying."