Alonso 'saved by the bell' in Sakhir

Fernando Alonso said McLaren were "saved by the bell" as they sealed a second double points finish of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix. As in Australia a fortnight ago, Alonso and team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne managed to place in the top 10, despite failing to make Q3 on Sunday.

Pierre Gasly's spectacular drive for fourth in the Honda-powered Toro Rosso puts the McLarens achievements into some perspective, but Alonso and Vandoorne delivered nevertheless in Sakhir.

Alonso leaped from 13th on the grid to eighth by the end of the final lap, getting ahead of the displaced Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in the process.

The Spaniard was seventh when the chequered flag fell, but looked back to his spectacular start as crucial.

He said: "We fixed it [qualifying] on the opening lap, didn't we?

"When I looked in the mirrors and I saw Hamilton behind I thought 'I don't know what position I'm in but it can't be too bad if Hamilton is behind'.

"We were still lacking a bit of pace in the race to be with [Nico] Hulkenberg and to attack the Haas.

"A pretty difficult weekend saved by the bell at the last moment with two cars in the points and with good points for the team, but we know we have to improve because today was a bit of a coincidence."

Alonso was fortunate to even make it out of Q1 on Saturday, with McLaren struggling to back up suggestions that they can challenge for race wins with Renault power onboard.

"The race is not just about car performance," he added. "It's about saving fuel, the tyres, the start, the first corner, the first lap… there's a lot more factors and we are usually better on Sundays than on Saturday.

"We know it's been a particularly strange weekend for us. Very hard, too slow, especially in qualifying and we need to improve in the upcoming races because starting from so far back it's complicated.

"But anyway, fifth in Australia, seventh here, 10 points there, six here. We would have taken 16 points before starting the championship in Barcelona, so I'm very happy about that."