Alonso: We did the Best We Could

Fernando Alonso said that second best was all his Renault team could hope for from their home French Grand Prix after Ferrari confused him with a strategy master stroke.

Alonso led the race from the start but lost the number one position to World Champion Michael Schumacher in the second round of stops and never recovered as Ferrari switched from a three-stop to a four-stop race.

A heavy fuel load in the final stint of Alonso's three-stop race meant he could only watch Schumacher sail away into the distance when they German came out from his final stop 12 laps from the end.

"I didn't understand the strategy," admitted Alonso. "I think we changed the plan a little bit from what we had at the beginning because Ferrari stopped very early in all the stints. We tried to protect ourselves from the first stint and I think it changed a little bit and I think to carry so much fuel was a penalty at that point. Anyway, we did the maximum we could today.

"We pushed from beginning to end and maybe second position was the maximum target we could achieve today. I saw Michael come in the pits quite early and I kept pushing for the three laps I had and after the first stop I was in the lead again. Then Michael stopped very early and the team was a bit surprised, I was surprised.

"After my second stop Michael was in front with a good gap, so in those laps I think Michael was pushing very hard and it was impossible for us to keep that pace. After the third stop we knew the fourth stop was coming."

Alonso could do nothing to stop Schumacher securing the glory once again but the result marked his best of the season ­ improving on his third place in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

It also marked a turn in the tide of fortunes at Renault with Alonso coming off the back of three retirements in four races and his Italian teammate Jarno Trulli having enjoyed most of the success in recent weekends.

While Alonso had the team cheering his success, Trulli left them bitter after throwing away a podium place on the final lap when he made a mistake that allowed Brazilian Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello to pounce on him for third.