Valtteri Bottas admits Ferrari was simply too quick for Mercedes as Sebastian Vettel claimed victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
The Finn impressed on his race debut with Mercedes as he recorded the 10th podium finish of his career, just 1.3s behind teammate Lewis Hamilton. While Bottas was pleased to take his first rostrum appearance with the Silver Arrows, he concedes the reigning world champions has a fight on its hands to catch Ferrari, with Vettel finishing over 10s clear of Hamilton.
"Obviously it was first race with the team and I really want to thank everyone," Bottas said. "The team has been so welcoming. We've worked really hard for this first race to be ready. Everything went nice and smoothly.
"Just the red guys, they are a bit too quick. We need to work harder and we are definitely ready for that. I'm ready for that. This is a start, starting with the podium and if we improve on this I look forward to the next few races.
"This track has never been fantastic for me in qualifying, but today the race was good. As a team I think we did a good job with the car we had. Ferrari was quicker today, no doubt about that, so they did a better job this weekend."
Bottas says Formula One's new aerodynamic regulations and faster, wider cars created one of the physical races of his career to date in Melbourne.
"It was also one of the most physical races ever, although this track is not too hard. But the new cars make it harder and judging from today it will be tough in some tracks. It's nice to see the physical side being hard -- I like that."
When asked if he feels the new rules have made it harder to follow and overtake drivers, Bottas replied: "It's always been difficult to follow when you are in turbulent air, when you're 1s or 1.5s behind.
"Now the aero has a bigger effect on the grip of the car, there's more turbulent air and from 2,5s behind it's even more difficult to follow. You get a better slipstream on the straights, but you can't get close enough in the corners, and that's the problem."