Fernando Alonso acknowledged maintaining his top 10 start at the Spanish Grand Prix would have been very difficult even without his first lap incident.

The double Formula 1 world champion grabbed all the headlines after claiming seventh in qualifying for his home race in Barcelona, but an off into the gravel at Turn 2 on the opening lap dropped him outside the points as he and Felipe Massa were caught out by the damaged Ferrari and Red Bull ahead.

Looking back on what happened, Alonso admitted: "The cars in front were making contact and I took a risk.

"Maybe I could have stayed behind but I had nothing to lose so I tried to go around the outside knowing that maybe he wouldn't see me."

In his defence, the 35-year-old pointed to the ongoing performance issues of the McLaren-Honda package adding: "Even without that I think that with our speed on the straights sooner or later you start to drop down.

"Your rivals prepare it little by little and at one point it's impossible to defend or impossible to attack.”

One back behind many of the fastest midfield teams, Alonso conceded the dream of his first points of the season was merely that.

"In terms of race pace we knew we couldn't match the cars in front and even if we had it we lost all our chances behind Kvyat after the pitstop," he claimed.

"We can't pass on the straight so we stayed behind him and from there the race was more complicated."