Alonso Welcomes Surprising Second

Alonso had settled for third in the closing stages of the race when he suddenly found himself right on then second place Montoya's tail after the McLaren driver was punted into a spin by back marker Tiago Monteiro.

His afternoon then got even better when Montoya ran off the track on the penultimate lap at Turn Eight - meaning Alonso took second to main title rival Kimi Raikkonen.

Speaking about the incident, Alonso said: "It was a nice surprise at the end. I saw the yellow flags on the straight but you cannot see the corner because of the hill, and I was surprised to see Juan Pablo and the Jordan there. Then it all happened on Turn Eight."

Alonso's second place came despite fairly disappointing pace - especially with him unable to overhaul Raikkonen in the early stages of the race despite having a much lighter fuel load.

"I think the first lap was okay, with Fisichella in P1 and we knew we were a little bit quicker than Kimi in the first stint because we were lighter.

"So we tried to do our best in the first corners, but in Turn 12 Kimi was in front of us again, so it all started again. I was able to follow Kimi but not overtake."