Kvyat and Alonso were running less than a second apart between laps 13 and 22, with the Russian on the soft compound and Alonso using the hard tyre.

And Kvyat, who would wind up 13th to Alonso's 16th at the end of the race, says he had to do "miracles" to keep the Spaniard at bay.

"When Fernando was behind us, I had to be on the edge of a penalty all the time," Kvyat said.

"We almost had the big one [crash] together, it was maybe this close at some point, but I always managed to stay ahead. I had to do miracles to stay ahead, to be honest, but I managed to stay ahead."

Kvyat's 13th place was the top result achieved by Toro Rosso after a trying Suzuka weekend, as teammate Carlos Sainz ended up 17th.

"This is how things are at the moment and we did the best job with the car we had - and we have to accept that our straightline speed is too slow to fight for position.

"Was absolutely nothing left on the table - every car finished, no safety car, nothing, so we started where we finished.

"This is how it is at the moment, unfortunately. It's frustrating but at least we left McLaren behind us, one of the Renaults... not ideal but it is what it is."

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble