Giancarlo Fisichella believes Renault have the goods to challenge Ferrari and McLaren for this season's Formula One world title, with the next round of the battle in Malaysia in a fortnight.

The Italian journeyman produced his greatest drive in F1 to land the season-opening Australian Grand Prix for the French team and gave them the early edge over world champions Ferrari in the 19-round contest.

Fisichella and team-mate Fernando Alonso brought Renault 16 points from first and third placings compared to Rubens Barrichello's eight runner-up points for Ferrari.

Fisichella breathed life into the new season with his all-the-way victory and later spoke of Renault's great potential for the season.

"We showed our pace in winter testing and today we showed how quick we are," Fisichella said. "We still have good potential and I think the team with Ferrari and McLaren will fight for the championship."

The F1 circus packs up and heads to Kuala Lumpur for the second GP of the year at Sepang on March 20.

Renault team leader Flavio Briatore said there was more room for his team to improve in the months ahead. It was Renault's first F1 victory since Jarno Trulli won the Monaco GP last May.

Ferrari put a brave face on their failure to land the Australian GP for the sixth time in the last seven years. Their new and improved car will not be used until the European section of the season in late April-May.

Barrichello's super effort for second place was Ferrari's major positive after seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher failed to finish the race. 

(Agencies)