That was due to a stunning strategy that saw him pit at the end of lap one following the first of four safety car periods, in this case a 180mph shunt in the tunnel involving Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg.

The Spaniard then produced four stunning overtaking manoeuvres out of the tunnel and into the chicane on Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, as well as Virgin Racing duo Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi.

But then at the final corner of the last lap, Alonso appeared to have fallen asleep and given up sixth as Schumacher passed him on the inside after the safety car had ended its fourth outing.

However, the race stewards, including 1996 world champion Damon Hill, declared Schumacher’s move illegal and added 20 seconds to the 41-year-old’s time, dropping him from sixth to 12th.

Mercedes are appealing and the original result may yet stand, but a happy Alonso said: “This result is a morale booster.

“To start from the pit lane and finish sixth is way more than we could have expected.

“Although it was a difficult Sunday for me, much of the credit for the result goes to the team.

“After working hard to re-build the car for the race, they chose an aggressive strategy, and to finish it without problems is the result of a super job.”

Alonso maintains he was told by the team there would be no overtaking once the final safety car returned to the pits as he had considered a move on Lewis Hamilton, who was fifth in his McLaren.

But Schumacher insists his team informed him he could race, a view endorsed by team principal Ross Brawn and has resulted in an appeal.

“We believed the track had gone green and the race was not finishing under a safety car when the regulations would have applied,” said Brawn.

“The reason for the safety car had been removed. The FIA announced ’safety car in this lap’ early on lap 78, and the track had been declared clear by race control.

“This was further endorsed when the marshals showed green flags and lights after safety car line one (in front of the entrance to the garages).

“On previous occasions when it has been necessary to complete a race under a safety car full course yellows are maintained, as in Melbourne last year.

“On the last lap, we therefore advised our drivers they should race to the line and Michael made his move on Fernando for sixth place.”

It was four years ago in Monaco that Schumacher was demoted to the back of the grid after feigning an accident in qualifying, in doing so blocking Alonso from claiming pole position.