Luca di Montezemolo hails return to winning for Ferrari

Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has hailed the Italian marque's return to victory.

Tension between the long-time Ferrari chief and his successor Sergio Marchionne has been obvious, but Montezemolo insisted that Ferrari fully deserved to win in Melbourne.

"I'm really happy for the men and women of Ferrari," he is quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"It was a clear and well deserved victory. Ferrari was the quickest car on the track, even if Mercedes called [Lewis] Hamilton to the box too early and with these machines it seems impossible to overtake.

"But I'm really happy for everyone because this very important success is the result of the great work that has been done at Maranello."

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen placed first and fourth respectively to give the team a four-point lead over Mercedes after the season opener.