“We have had a very complicated start to the season,” the Finn acknowledged, “but I have certainly not lost faith in the team. For sure we had quite a difficult weekend in Australia. We didn't really expect to have such difficulties and we were 100 per cent sure that it was going to be different [in Malaysia] – the whole winter the car has been working well [and] been quick.
“Speed-wise we knew we were going to be fine once we were in the right place. Even in Australia the speed should have been ok in the race. Everything worked perfectly [in Malaysia], and we took it quite easy in the race to make sure nothing went wrong. We still have a second race with the same engine, so we saved the engine quite well.
“It was a perfect job by the team after a difficult first race to come back like this. We're still not 100 per cent happy with things and we can still do better, but we are now in a pretty good position.
“We will definitely do the best that we can, and hopefully we can be fast again in the next race. I already said in Australia that our speed should be fine, [but] when you start behind someone you can never use your own speed.
“Australia is not exactly a normal circuit, so sometimes you get slightly wrong results there. Last year we were much faster than everybody there, and coming here we were not so happy anymore, so it's a bit the opposite now. I think the next race can be different again, so we need to wait and see and after a few races we will get a clearer picture of where we are exactly.”
Team principal Stefano Domenicali was similarly cautious about the result, echoing his post-Melbourne insistence that
Ferrari had not been ‘phenomenal' before the race, and that by the same token nor were they ‘stupid' after it.
