Lotus Racing's Kimi Raikkonen showed exactly why he has been considered a title contender in pre-season with a solid win in Melbourne. The 2007 world champion finished more than 12 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, whose Ferrari showed great pace in the dry conditions. Sebastian Vettel, who had started on pole, finished third. Vettel's Red Bull team will be disheartened by their lack of pace, struggling in particular with tyre degradation. "After a good two-three laps the tyres were falling apart," said the third-placed German. "We couldn't go as long as other people." It was a world away from the latter half of last season, where a Red Bull pole position had almost guaranteed a Red Bull win. Mark Webber, who had an awful start in what could be his last home Grand Prix, passed the chequered flag in sixth place. Mercedes, too, will be slightly disappointed by the result. Despite the Silver Arrow looking imperious in Q1, Lewis Hamilton finished in fifth position after trying an unusual pit stop strategy. Nico Rosberg, who had looked unstoppable in the wet, retired on lap 27 due to an electronics failure - pointing perhaps to similar reliability problems which plagued Hamilton last season. The 2008 world champion's former team McLaren looked distinctly average, with Force India mounting a more potent threat to the front runners. Adrian Sutil finished seventh after a magnificent performance which deserved more on his return to Formula One. The German, who missed last season after a charge of assault, led the Grand Prix twice but was let down by his change to super-soft tyres on lap 47. Nico Hulkenberg, who Sutil replaced at Force India, did not race for new side Sauber after a fuel system failure before the start. His team-mate Pastor Maldonado ended up in the gravel on lap 25 after losing control on turn one. It was an ominous win for Raikkonen, whose Lotus was the only top-six car to cope with a two-stop strategy. " was our plan before the race," said the Finn to Martin Brundle. "I've had a very good car all weekend even though I didn't do any long runs in the winter. I thought it should be easy ." Lotus team principal Eric Boullier played down Red Bull's apparent lack of pace. "It's just the first race. It was a bizarre weekend with the weather and qualifying changing all the time. We'll see more next weekend," he said in an interview with Sky Sports F1. Second-placed Fernando Alonso seemed satisfied with the result and very pleased with his car. The Spaniard told Martin Brundle, "we had a difficult start of season two years ago and last year, too, but this year is very different. We feel much more comfortable. We have a good season ahead of us." Felipe Massa, who has lived in the shadow of team-mate Alonso in recent years, also had an excellent race having already out-qualified the Spaniard. The Brazillian was let down by his pit-stop and tyre choice on lap 23, where he ended up behind Adrian Sutil. ---------- CLASSIFIED RESULTS (source: grandprix.com.au) 1) Kimi RAIKKONEN (Lotus); 2) Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari, +12.4secs); 3) Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing, +22.3secs); 4) Felipe MASSA (Ferrari, +33.5secs); 5) Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes, +45.5secs); 6) Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing, +46.8secs); 7) Adrian SUTIL (Force India, +65.0secs); 8) Paul DI RESTA (Force India, +68.4secs); 9) Jenson BUTTON (McLaren, +81.6secs); 10) Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus, +82.7secs); 11) Sergio PEREZ (McLaren, +83.3secs); 12) Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso, +83.8secs); 13) Esteban GUTIERREZ (Sauber, +1 lap); 14) Valterri BOTTAS (Williams, +1 lap); 15) Jules BIANCHI (Marussia, +1 lap); 16) Charles PIC (Caterham, +2 laps); 17) Max CHILTON (Marussia, +2 laps); 18) Giedo VAN DER GARDE (Caterham, +2 laps) Retired: Daniel RICCIARDO (Toro Rosso, exhaust); Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes, electronics); Pastor MALDONADO (Williams, spun onto gravel) Did not start: Nico HULKENBERG (Sauber, fuel system)