De Ferran, who is serving as Alonso’s driver coach for his Indy 500 bid with the McLaren Honda Andretti entry, told Motorsport.com: “It was no surprise to me that yesterday went so well, because Fernando is one of the greatest talents and the team had everything prepared and a good strategy and so on.

“But I’ll be surprised if there isn’t a setback at some point in the week of practice. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a way of throwing curveballs at you. That’s just the way it is.

“I don’t know what it will be - if I knew, I would prevent it, right?! But there will be something. But that’s ok, he has a strong team around him and Fernando is also very experienced in overcoming difficulties, and not raising his expectations too fast, too soon. He will be prepared.

“To emulate what he said in the press conference, I too am now in the mode of putting behind us all the emotion and excitement around this fantastic thing happening. And to be honest today, I’m not even thinking about how well he did.

“Just like the team, and just like Fernando, I’m looking ahead. I’m in work mode, thinking about potential problems – ‘What do we need to do? What do we need to check off the list?’

“And working next to a guy who’s a consummate professional like Fernando is very gratifying. We speak the same lingo! He is trying to perfect every aspect of his game, he’s thinking about it 24/7 and frankly, if you want to be as good as him, that’s the least you’ve got to do!”

Asked if there had been any areas where he felt Alonso needed to work on, based on what he saw yesterday, de Ferran replied: “I don’t know that I’d point things he’s got to improve. It’s about experience now.

“Frankly the integration with the team went smoothly and the acclimatization to the track went smoothly. Job done, and job well done. It’s as good a day as one could have hoped for.

“So now he’s got to learn and understand all the nuances of the Speedway, of driving oval cars, of driving in traffic, and also dealing with the team. That can only come with experience.”

De Ferran added that although Alonso was in a completely unfamiliar environment, his feedback was still descriptive and useful to the engineer.

“His feedback is very good,” he said, “even though he’s a rookie at this particular track, or in this particular circumstance. He immediately centers on what is important and expresses it in a very concise way – which I always found was the best way when talking with your engineer during a practice session.

“I keep saying to people, ‘Don’t forget, we’re talking about Fernando Alonso here!’ and that’s the way it is. He’s a consummate professional, like I said. He’s very focused on doing a good job. He’s not leaving any stone unturned and the team has responded in kind.”