The two-world champion took advantage of a chaotic race at Austin to run fifth in the closing stages, but with a queue of cars forming behind him after the final restart, he eventually tumbled down the order with a loss of power.

Alonso called it “probably one of the best races of my career”, after a first-corner tangle with Felipe Massa dropped him to the back of the field at the start.

“We were one minute behind the penultimate car on lap two, then we were fifth 10 laps from the end and the pace was really strong,” said Alonso, who was running Honda’s latest spec engine in a race for the first time.

“It would have been a little miracle what nearly happened today, but we had an engine issue in the last 10 laps.

“It feels better to fight with other cars and be competitive, but on the day we are this competitive, all these issues are not welcome.

“We recovered, we fought very hard, so the feeling now is a little more sad than happy.”