Bonus point the only bright spot as reigning champ Raikkonen stutters in Melbourne

Kimi Raikkonen could take something away from a disastrous start to his world championship defense when he failed to finish the Australian Grand Prix: one point. He looked on it as a bonus point, indeed.

After winning the season-opening Australian GP from pole position last year in his first race for Ferrari, a mechanical failure forced him out of Sunday's race five laps from the end. He was classified ninth, one place out of the championship points, in a race that only seven of the 22 cars completed.

But when one of those, Honda's Rubens Barrichello, had his sixth-place rubbed out for leaving pitlane while the lights were red, Raikkonen was elevated to No. 8 and one point in the championship.

It was the only point constructor champion Ferrari got to start a season in which the team aimed to defend its titles. Rival McLaren got 14 points with Lewis Hamilton winning and Heikki Kovaleinen fifth.

"For sure it's really disappointing not to finish the race, but at least the point is better than nothing," Raikkonen said. "There are many races left and every point that we can get is always a bonus.

"I had an engine problem, which needs to be analyzed, but the car was good and I had good pace when I found a free track ahead of me."

The Finn was already looking ahead to next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. "This result is obviously not the best start but we are capable of recovering from far worse situations than this," Raikkonen said. "We have to put everything into place and then we will be really competitive."

Raikkonen started at No. 15 on the grid after an engine failure on his in-lap of Saturday's first phase of qualifying meant he had to be pushed into pitlane and was therefore not allowed to advance to the second and third runs.

He managed to avoid the mayhem at the first turn that contributed to five retirements on the first lap, and worked his way up to third place when he pushed the limits too far. After an overtaking maneuver on fellow Finn Kovalainen, he failed to take a corner and slid into the gravel, slipping back to 11th when he rejoined after a pitstop.

"I spun a couple of times trying to pass those ahead of me ... with Kovalainen, I was a bit too optimistic," he said.

Teammate Felipe Massa started fourth on the grid but had to pit twice in the first three laps after spinning off at the first turn, then retired on the 30th lap, soon after a collision with Red Bull's David Coulthard.

"A horrible start to the season," Massa said. "We had engine problems, which is unusual for a team like ours."

Massa did contribute to his own problems.

He survived a close call with Kovalainen in the first lap and despite driving away from the collision with Coulthard, he retired a few laps later.

"I moved up the order and could have finished in the points," he said. "I was on the inside and he closed the door on me, probably because he didn't see me."

"Our championship will have to start again in Malaysia."

Raikkonen was behind in the drivers championship for most of last season before winning the last race at Brazil and edging Hamilton by one point. Hamilton was expecting another year-long duel with the Ferrari racers despite their poor start.

"A lot of hype was put on them and they've obviously had a tough weekend," Hamilton said. "But you can't forget that they are a great team and they have a very good car and two great drivers. "I'm sure everyone could have a bad weekend at some point during the season, but there are still 17 races to go."