The technical directors at Ferrari and Mercedes are both expecting this year's championship to be decided by small margins.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton went head to head at the opening round of the season in Australia on Sunday, with Vettel coming out on top following a close strategic battle. The two teams appear to be closely matched this year and Mercedes technical director James Allison -- who left Ferrari last summer and joined Mercedes in March -- believes it will remain the same over the course of the season.

"If it wasn't already clear after qualifying, then it's certainly clear now that this is going to be a season of very small margins," he said. "We got a good getaway from the flag. But credit to Ferrari, they had a very quick car and we just weren't quite good enough to stick with them.

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"We won't panic, though. It's race one of a long season and we scored some very good points with both cars today. We'll be determined to come back stronger in China and make sure those small margins go our way next time."

Ferrari technical director Mattia Binotto, who took over from Allison last July, believes the development race will now be crucial over the coming months.

"It's on the track that you reap the rewards of your collective efforts over the winter. It was a busy period during which everyone doubled their energy and effort.

"We still have 19 challenges ahead of us and today's race shows how the slightest thing can make the difference between being in front or being behind. Therefore, we must continue to push as hard as possible on development."