The Spaniard secured his best result of the year - and his best since last year's Hungarian Grand Prix - after surviving a very complicated race in mixed conditions.

But, having struggled with the handling of his car all weekend, Alonso admitted the most positive aspect was the result.

"It feels good, because when you complete such a difficult race it's a good satisfaction," said Alonso.

"But the best thing is the fifth place. It doesn't matter if you are happy or not with your race if the result is not there.

"We can't draw many conclusions. The track is too unique, too different. The result was the best of the year until now.

"The level of competitiveness wasn't excellent. We struggled for pace all weekend, so there are still a lot of things to improve."

The two-time champion conceded the race had not been easy at all given the tricky conditions.

"Obviously it's always a satisfaction when you execute a difficult race, and this was one of those," he added.

"It was tough from the beginning, zero visibility behind the safety car, and then we switched to inters guessing what the grip will be because they were the first laps in wet conditions of the weekend.

"And then the most difficult thing was switching to dry tyres, the track was one metre wide because there was only a [tiny] dry line – and if you put one centimetre of the tyre on the wet part you will crash, this is Monaco."

Alonso's teammate Jenson Button came him in ninth position, giving McLaren its second double points finish of the year.