Fernando Alonso says starting the Spanish Grand Prix dead last and finishing in the points is part of "the magic of motorsport".
A mishap in qualifying coupled with an engine change on his Alpine A522 led to Alonso bringing up the rear at the start of Sunday's race in Barcelona.
On a track where overtaking opportunities are usually few and far between, the Spaniard anticipated a pointless afternoon and insisted that only luck would enable him to challenge for points at the end of the day.
But in typical Alonso fashion, the local hero pulled out the stops from the outset and carved his way through the field with the help of a three-stop strategy that brought him a remarkable ninth place finish at the checkered flag and his second top-ten result of the 2022 season.
"I think it was a mega race for us today," he told Sky Sports F1. "Because we started last.
"We changed the engine last night in a way, even sacrificed a little bit this weekend because we knew that it was difficult to overtake here in Barcelona. And then we finished in the points.
"We started P5, P6 a few races ago and we never ended in the points and now we’re starting last and we finished in the points so that’s the magic of motorsport."
However, Alonso's charge was briefly put in jeopardy by a slow pitstop executed by his Alpine crews and a few marginal track abuses that had been noted by the stewards.
"We had some pace in hand in case we needed it at the end, and I think it was under control," he said.
"I had two warnings because I was out of track in Turn 12. So that was my biggest worry, to be honest, more than the pit stop."
With Alonso's teammate Esteban Ocon enjoying a near flawless performance that brought the Frenchman home P7, Alpine heads to Monaco this week on the back of a double-points result.
But the Spaniard is expecting a challenging weekend in the glitzy Principality.
"I think the level of concentration in Monaco will have to be higher than ever because there are mistakes that we do with these cars," he said.
"They are heavy. They are not so gripping in the slow-speed corner, we saw today in Turn 4. It was a very tricky corner, a lot of people going off.
"In Monaco, you don’t have that room to [make a] mistake and I think it’s gonna be a tough race for everyone."
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