Fernando Alonso revealed he turned up the power on his Honda engine for one quick lap during the Russian Grand Prix "just to wake up".

Alonso scored McLaren's best result of the season with a sixth place finish in Russia behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams. After making a good start, Alonso spent much of the race on his own and on the penultimate lap he set a new personal best and the fifth fastest time overall.

"I felt the car was good, but obviously we were saving so much fuel during the race and at one point I said I want to do one quick lap just to wake up a little bit because I feel not good, and yeah the potential is there! I think there are some circuits coming now that will suit our car even better, like Barcelona and Monaco so high expectations for those and we executed the weekend and maximised those points."

Alonso said the difference in McLaren's performance compared to last year's Russian Grand Prix six months ago was significant.

"The most positive aspect of this weekend was that we were competitive throughout the weekend and in the race too. Last year when we managed to get a good first lap and pass the others they quickly got us back, but today we were competitive let's hope we can keep going like this.

"It was a small step forward, now some tracks where engine power counts less, like Barcelona and Monaco, so hopefully we'll be able to get some more points. Now I go to Dubai for a few days, as it's close to here, to rest a bit, and then it's off to Barcelona."