When the season began in Australia, many were surprised by Ferrari's noticeable lack of pace, particularly in qualifying. Alonso and Massa were 1.4 and 2.0 seconds slower than polesitter Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull RB7, respectively. In the race however, the Ferraris certainly seemed to have decent pace, but their finishing results were still substantially hampered by their poor grid positions, with Alonso finishing 4th and Massa 7th. Their lack of pace continued to hinder their results in both Malaysia and China and after three races, they remain without a podium position and sit third in the Constructor's Championship, already 55 points down on leaders Red Bull. Turkey saw a change in pace for Ferrari, as they were finally able to keep pace with Red Bull. After starting from fifth, Alonso managed to make his way up to second, before being passed by Mark Webber on the 51st lap. His third-place finish was Ferrari's first podium of the season. Massa, meanwhile, started from tenth place, after mechanical problems prevented him from setting a time in the third qualifying session. Although he managed to get as high up as sixth place, two botched pit stops meant he could only finish 11th, behind Kamui Kobayashi and outside the points.