Ferrari left confused by Australian GP woes

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has admitted he and his team were left confused by what they saw in Australia on Sunday, with the Italian team being left almost a minute behind to eventual race-winner Valtteri Bottas, in his Mercedes.

In pre-season testing in Barcelona, Ferrari would've been considered as the early favourite - following two very strong weeks of fast laps.

But it was yet another dominant performance from world champions, Mercedes, who secured a one-two - with Bottas winning and world champion Lewis Hamilton finishing behind his team-mate.

Max Verstappen pressured Hamilton late on in the race to complete the podium, with Sebastian Vettel finishing fourth - and probably would've finished fifth if it wasn't for team orders that told debutant Charles Leclerc to hold position and not to overtake his German team-mate.

Asked by Motorsport.com to explain the woes Ferrari suffered, boss Binotto said: "I think you're right, it's not what we were expecting. Winter testing was certainly different.

"Since Friday FP1, we never found the right balance on the car and we struggled with the tyres. We tried different set-up approaches during the weekend, but I have to say we never concluded with the right balance.

"(The team was) unhappy in qualifying, and when you're in parc ferme (conditions with no changes allowed before the race), that's what you've got. The performance is simply reflecting what we had in qualifying as well.

"We didn't find the right balance. We were lacking grip. Did we understand that yet? Probably not. It's something we need to go back, analyse all the data and try to assess what happened."