Fernando Alonso believes that his third place in Formula One Chinese Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday was an accurate reflection of Ferrari's speed.

Alonso clocked one minute 34.806 seconds to finish third in the qualifying, while Red bulls's duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber dominated the first row.

Meanwhile, Felipe Massa was disappointed with seventh on the grid, after making a mistake on the final corner of his final lap.

"At the moment, I'd say this result is an accurate reflection of our qualifying potential. The Red Bulls seem unbeatable, but it's definitely not a surprise, because they are always strong on Saturday," said 29-year-old Alonso.

"I am happy with the way things went: third is a good place to start such a long race. We can do well and aim for a podium finish. The team is working well, with a clear philosophy that it's in the race that the points are given out, not in qualifying." added Alonso, who took the title of the opener Bahrain Grand Prix.

Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari's team principal,also said they could be pleased with the way went.

"We knew the Red Bulls would be hard to beat in qualifying and that was the case, but Fernando, who did a great lap, managed to take third, which means he is in with a fighting chance tomorrow," said Domenicali.

"Tomorrow's race looks like being very hard to predict. In this early part of the season, we have seen that over a long run, the pace of the F1 is very competitive and we will try and make the most of this characteristic."