The 36-year-old will go into the season with a new race engineer after his long-time partner Ciaron Pilbeam left Red Bull for Lotus.

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Strong performances in Australia and China, where Alonso raced to a dominant victory for Ferrari, continue to give Ferrari hope that they can still challenge their main rivals Red Bull, Lotus and Mercedes in the title hunt when racing resumes in the Spanish city of Barcelona on May 12.

CNN: Ferrari boss: 'We have to be perfect'

Renault is now officially in F1 only as an engine supplier - to Red Bull, Renault and Team Lotus - and now, through Infiniti, as a sponsor of Red Bull.

BBC: Red Bull get budget boost through Infiniti link-up

Massa was later handed a three-place grid penalty after being accused of impeding Mark Webber in the second Red Bull during Q2, with the Australian qualifying eighth behind Lotus' Romain Grosjean.

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Vettel's Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was fourth with former world champion Kimi Raikkonen fifth for Lotus.

CNN: Ferrari's Alonso wins rain-hit Malaysian Grand Prix

While Lotus was acknowledged even in preseason testing to have a pace comparable to the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, there was a nagging doubt whether it would have the depth of financial resources to challenge its bigger rivals throughout the season.

NPR: Lotus' Raikkonen Wins F1's Australian GP

Massa was happy to finish sixth, ahead of Vettel and Button but behind Red Bull's Mark Webber, fourth-placed Sergio Perez of McLaren and third-placed Romain Grosjean of Lotus.

CNN: Rain ruins F1 qualifying in Melbourne