It might seem hard to believe, but Ferrari, which in the previous 10 seasons has won 8 constructors' titles, was delighted to leave Bahrain with 3 points.

Had the Italian outfit failed to score a point it would have represented the team's worst start to a season in the entire sixty year history of the Formula One World Championship.

As it was, even those 3 points didn't come easy, with both cars colliding on the first lap, causing damage to Felipe Massa's car which essentially put paid to any chance of the Brazilian finishing on the top half of the timesheets.

However, with Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo watching from the pit-wall, not to mention the whole of Italy and, indeed, the tifosi, watching their TV screens, the Maranello outfit finally opened its 2009 points account, courtesy of sixth place for Kimi Raikkonen.

"First points was the minimum standard that we should have done today," team boss Stefano Domenicali admitted to reporters shortly after the race.

"Unfortunately, we should have done it with both cars..." he continued, "it's a pity where you start the race and see that our cars touch at the first corner."

While the Italian team can allow itself a minor sigh of relief, Domenicali admitted that the drama began even before the cars had left for the grid.

"When we were in the garage before starting, we had a problem on the telemetry on Felipe's car. So I said 'Mamma Mia, really it will be another difficult Sunday'," he revealed. "Basically, we were completely blind. We were asking Felipe to tell us and check some parameters on his own because we couldn't see.

"On top of that the KERS that was not running for him at the start and was going on and off during the race," the Italian admitted, "maybe it was a problem of the temperature or some other thing."

While Raikkonen's three points only moves the Maranello team into ninth in the Constructors' Championship, it's a start, admits Domenicali, and finally gets that particular monkey off the team's back.

"For sure it is a breath of air that we needed at this moment with the pressure that we have,. But we need to keep our feet on the ground. It was the minimum that we should have done today.

"We need to make sure that we solve all the issues that we have," he continued. "At least we know what we need to do. But it was really important to arrive at the chequered flag."