Melbourne - Ferrari have reacted with a large degree of self-criticism to the Italian team's disappointing start to the 2009 Formula One season when Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen both finished out of the points in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

"This was, no matter what way you look at it, definitely not a start worthy of Ferrari. It was a day to forget," said Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali after Massa and Raikkonen failed to point at the season-opening race won by Jenson Button of Brawn GP.

"Red Alert - what a knockout," wrote Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport as the country came to terms with the Ferrari's worst start to a season in 17 years.

"At no stage were we quick enough," admitted Domenicali. "Our strategies didn't work either."

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton's third-place finish after starting from 18th on the grid, led to sighs of relief among members of his McLaren-Mercedes team.

"That was more than we could have expected after starting from 18th," admitted Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug.

However, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh tried to dampen any optimism that Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen would be in the running for a podium place in this Sunday's Malaysian GP in Sepang.

"I expect us to be even less competitive in Malaysia," said Whitmarsh.

Button led from start to finish at the Albert Park circuit as he celebrated a Brawn GP one-two with team-mate Rubens Barrichello and the Briton says there is more to come in Sepang.

"It wasn't the perfect race and there's room for improvement, but we got the win and hopefully this is the first of many. I can't wait for Malaysia now," Button told the BBC.

"We can definitely improve our restarts and I really struggled to get temperature into the tyres as well. I also made a mistake in the first pit stop so there's more to come from both me and the team.

"I made it difficult for us today but we got there."

Massa said while he was aware of the strength of the Brawn GP team, Ferrari's performance had been a major disappointment.

"The solution for Malaysia? Work, work, work," said the Brazilian. (dpa)