Italian GP: Fernando Alonso reckons fifth was possible for Ferrari

Alonso ran seventh in the early stages of Sunday's Formula 1 race at Monza, but fell to ninth after being passed by the recovering Williams of Valtteri Bottas and getting jumped by the Force India of Sergio Perez in the pits.

Alonso was forced to retire his Ferrari on lap 29 of 53, but told reporters after the race that he had been saving his tyres to attack in the closing stages, in a similar fashion to the way Ricciardo charged through the lower part of the top 10 during the second half of the race.

"It was possible to be fifth to be honest because I think we were quicker than Ricciardo and we were in front of him in that [early] part of the race," Alonso said.

"With the first stint we were very competitive, but unfortunately we could not overtake because when four cars are in a group the last three cars all open DRS.

"When we pitted we found ourselves behind the train of cars with no possibility of overtaking.

"Thirty laps from the end we tried to change a little bit the approach and I backed off from the cars in front, and then at that point started having the engine problem.

"[Tyre saving] could work quite well as it did for Ricciardo, so I'm still thinking it was possible to at least try to attack at the end, with a little bit more pace, better tyres. Probably it was more possible than [at the beginning]."

RAIKKONEN: MONZA COMPLICATED

Alonso's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen had a quiet race to ninth after failing to qualify inside the top 10 at Monza.

The Finn described Ferrari's position at its home race as "complicated".

"The tyres were difficult at one point with the handling," Raikkonen said.

"I caught up with the others, but it was difficult for us to overtake.

"It was a complicated situation at a circuit like this for us.

"The balance was there, but we were lacking overall grip and speed."