Fernando Alonso thinks his performance at the Chinese Grand Prix was "incredible" and even better than the last race in Australia, which he had previously labelled the best of his career.
Driving the uncompetitive and underpowered McLaren-Honda, Alonso capitalised on the damp conditions early on to climb up the order from 13th. The Spaniard rose as high as sixth during the race and looked on for a strong haul of points before retiring on lap 32 with a driveshaft issue.
When asked if he was happy with his performance in Shanghai, Alonso replied: "Yeah, incredible. I thought Australia would be unrepeatable and here it was the same or even better. The conditions helped and so we took advantage of that.
"People were spinning left and right and we were gaining places more or less for free, and then when the track was damp we were keeping the pace of the best with a top speed deficit that's pretty incredible."
Shortly before his retirement from the race, Alonso had been passed by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas as the Finn recovered from an early spin. Though Alonso expected to slip down the order as the track continued to dry late on he is convinced points were there for the taking.
"Sometimes you are happy with your race, happy with your performance, happy with how the team as a group we deal with the conditions. And I think today is one of those days. We should be happy, we should be proud that we were understanding and reading the conditions in the first part of the race.
"When it was down to the pure performance of the cars with a completely dry circuit, we were dropping off the pace, but I think the points, P8 P9 was possible today. With the level of performance we have today, I think this is a little miracle. I think the team is doing the best job we can."