Alonso and McLaren off to a good start

Not only did the Woking-based outfit manage to keep news of Alonso's test quiet until a few hours before he climbed into the car, but the day's programme ran without a hitch too.

It was another remarkable 24 hours in Alonso's amazing season.

There had been little suggestion that Alonso would get the run out until the world champion was spotted eating in a restaurant near the Jerez circuit on Thursday night.

Those who knew he was there were sent into a frenzy of excitement about just what the Spaniard was doing - but no news was forthcoming from the team until early Friday morning.

All became clear in the dark paddock at 5:00am when McLaren personnel arrived early to surround the team's trucks and awnings with extra barriers and fences to keep the hordes away. Some said it looked like the cordoned off area of a police crime scene.

It was all so Alonso could sneak in a single day of testing with his new team - just to get those initial acclimatisation issues out of the way before the MP4-22 hits the track in the middle of January.

In plain white overalls, with a plain white helmet and driving an unbranded McLaren, Alonso got through his day pretty much trouble-free.

The team did everything they could to keep him far from the prying lenses of photographers, speaking distance away from journalists and well back from the fans amassed outside the McLaren 'stay out' area.

Trying to get an understanding of how Alonso's day was panning out was near impossible - especially when McLaren did not fit a shared timing transponder to his car.

Rival teams' timing systems showed that he had done a good job, though: third quickest overall, and just a quarter of second off teammate Lewis Hamilton.

But beyond the time, how was he to work with? His official end-of-day quote said nothing much other than: "A merry Christmas and a happy new year."

But as the sun set on Jerez, the mood inside the McLaren garage was clearly of a job well done. Unlike Ferrari, the team had managed to get their hands on their new superstar before the Christmas break - and those 95 laps that Alonso completed today appeared to have been a very positive start.

One source close to the team, who carefully watched Alonso's progress, told autosport.com: "He did a good job, really.

"He carried a lot of fuel all the time and had the same number of sets of tyres as Lewis Hamilton. He was very methodical and very professional, I thought - and I think that is what the team thought of him too."