It hadn't been the smoothest start to the 2013 F1 season thanks to the rain-hit qualifying sessions, and
Williams came away from Melbourne with no points to celebrate, but at least Valtteri Bottas had been given a chance to settle into the cockpit and find his racing feet.
"It was good that Valtteri was able to bring the car home in his first race," said the team's technical director Mike Coughlan, after the Finn ended the Australian Grand Prix in a solid 14th place with no dramas along the way.
"Valtteri had a solid race début and brought the car home in difficult conditions," agreed Laurent Debout, the team support leader for Williams' engine partners
Renault Sport F1. "But overall this weekend has been disappointing," he confessed.
"I had a good start from my grid position and it felt great to be back racing again," said Bottas, adding: "A small mistake a few laps in cost me some places though."
Despite that, he didn't think he could have improved on his position in Melbourne. "We got the maximum performance we could from the car today and although the pace isn't there yet, there are still some positives to take away," he insisted.
Bottas' day certainly went better than that of his team mate Pastor Maldonado, who ended the day early when he spun off into the gravel on lap 24 and the
Williams ended up beached, unable to continue.
"It was a disappointing end to a difficult weekend for myself and the team," admitted Maldonado. "The car was not responding as we hoped in the conditions today and unfortunately I lost the back end and ended up in the gravel."
The Venezuelan had been sharp in his criticism of the new FW35 this weekend, having labelled it "undriveable" in the wet after failing to get through the rain-hit Q1 qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.
"We need to work hard to solve the problems in the car to be ready for the next race in Malaysia," he said after the race on Sunday.