RACE RESULT 1 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 2 JP Montoya (Williams) 3 J Button (BAR) 4 R Barrichello (Ferrari) 5 J Trulli (Renault) 6 D Coulthard (McLaren) 7 F Alonso (Renault) 8 F Massa (Sauber) Full race result Race as it happened Grand Prix in pictures

The Spaniard climbed brilliantly up to eighth after just four laps, but a gamble on strategy failed to pay off.

"I am pleased to score two points, but our strategy didn't really work out and I think I could have finished even higher up," Alonso said.

"But when you finish seventh after starting last, things could be worse."

Renault made the strategy gamble at Alonso's second stop on lap 25 because he was being held up by David Coulthard's McLaren.

The team filled Alonso's car with enough fuel to take him to the end of the race, hoping he would be able to jump Coulthard when the McLaren made its third and final stop.

But the heavy fuel load slowed the Renault too much and Alonso was not able to take advantage.

The car was competitive, but quite tricky to drive Fernando Alonso

Ironically, he had passed the McLaren at the first corner at the beginning of lap 25, at the end of which both cars stopped.

Had Renault stuck with a three-stop strategy and managed to beat Coulthard out of the pits, Alonso would have had the clear track he wanted.

Pat Symonds, Renault's executive director of engineering, admitted that the gamble "didn't work".

Alonso, who was at the back of the grid after spinning on his qualifying lap, said: "The car was competitive, but quite tricky to drive - the balance wasn't particularly good during the race.

"It is always difficult in Malaysia and our mistakes during the weekend didn't make life any easier."

Team-mate Jarno Trulli battled with third-place finisher Jenson Button earlier in the race, but fell back as the race progressed and finished fifth.

Find out about understeer with our car behaviour guide

Trulli said he ran into problems with his front tyres that caused his car to understeer.