A decade on and the Spaniard finds himself in an uncannily similar situation.

Having been partnered by contemporaries Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button over recent seasons, Alonso is once again alongside a highly-rated F1 newcomer.

But does the man himself see any similarities between his turbulent 2007 season with Lewis Hamilton and 2017 with Stoffel Vandoorne?

"Every teammate I met after Hamilton it was the same question," he smiles when asked by Motorsport.com.

"When I joined Renault, the following year, it was Piquet. So they said, 'GP2 frontrunner, a young guy, so it will be the same as Hamilton.' It was not. Then it was Grosjean. They said, 'GP2 frontrunner, in 2009 Grosjean will be very fast.' He was not fast.

"Same with Felipe. 'Be careful, because in Ferrari, many years for Felipe, he's used to the team, he will be very fast.' He was not fast.

"Then it was Kimi, they were saying, 'A world champion is coming back to Ferrari, he's very, very fast.' He was not fast.

"Let's see how is Stoffel. I am not worried, we are not at the moment in a title position, or a title contender, so that we need to fight.

"Now we are in a moment where we need to work together, and we need to help the team in whatever way we can to make this difficult period as short as possible.

"So I'm happy with the arrival of Stoffel, new fresh air, very talented in GP2 and in Japan this year. But I'm not afraid..."

But should Alonso be afraid? All the signs suggest that Vandoorne is an exceptional talent, and that from the start he will be a force to be reckoned with, just as Hamilton was.

However, as Alonso says, they won't be fighting for race wins and the title – at least for now – so it will be a very different vibe in the camp compared with a decade ago.

There is another major difference between the 2007 and 2017 situations. Last time around Alonso was only three and a half years older than his teammate, and this time the gap is more than a decade.

The two drivers are at completely different stages of their careers, and Alonso is older and wiser and perhaps better able to deal with whatever challenge comes his way.

Vandoorne himself agrees that they have to work together for the good of the team, but he also concedes that faring well against one of the biggest stars of the modern era can only be good for him.

"I'll do my best for the team, which is the main focus at the moment, to get McLaren Honda back to the top," the Belgian said in Abu Dhabi. "Of course with Fernando I have a very strong teammate, which is rather positive for me.

"Everybody knows his qualities. He's a double world champion. I think the stats explain enough. I'm looking forward to being alongside him. If I fare well, then it's positive for my career as well."

Vandoorne says he's learned a lot watching Alonso this year: "I think the way he prepares his weekend is quite interesting, and as well he's one of the drivers that just delivers in every condition.

"Every time he's out, he will be there, and he will be doing a good job. So for me it's good to have a benchmark like that next year."

McLaren preparation

Like Hamilton, Vandoorne was well prepared by McLaren as he came through the ranks, but there were a couple of notable differences.

Hamilton went straight from winning the GP2 title with ART to F1, while Vandoorne had an extra year of learning, which was very fruitfully spent combining a Super Formula programme with being fully embedded with the F1 team on grand prix weekends.

He also enjoyed the unplanned bonus of having got his debut out of the way in Bahrain back in April, when he stood in for Alonso and finished 10th.

What he hasn't done is much testing - just a session here or a session there since McLaren gave him his first chance in 2014. This season, for example, the Belgian had two days of wet tyre Pirelli running at Paul Ricard in January, with the old car, followed by one day apiece in Barcelona and Silverstone.

Spending time with McLaren at races was obviously useful, but there's only so much you can glean by standing in the garage with headphones on, or listening in at debriefings.

"I think every weekend is more or less the same," Vandoorne explains. "When you've done it a couple of times you know how procedures work and how you work with the team.

"Every weekend there are new bits on the car, but when you're not in the car it's difficult to feel what's going on and to make an opinion on it. I think next year will be a lot better when I can feel everything myself, start working with the team and push things forward.

"I've been doing this a while now, and the only difference will be that next year I will be in the car. I know the people at McLaren, I've been with them a long time, worked with a lot of the guys, so it feels very comfortable for me to be here. So I just can't wait to be in the car now."

Super Formula useful

McLaren's decision to send Vandoorne to Japan was a wise one, and he has had a chance to develop much more than if he had just spent a year just standing around, given how limited F1 testing opportunities now are.

He entered a very competitive championship in which some drivers have been racing for a decade or more, and with quick cars that have high levels of grip. This kept Vandoorne race fit, and furthered his education. And most importantly, he kept up his winning momentum.

"I think it's been pretty good, because nobody was really expecting me to win anything there. I think it's been a good season with ups and downs. We won two races, we had a pole position and a podium.

"We had some tough races as well. But I think in general it's been good for me to understand the car, work with some Japanese people as well, which I'm going to have to a bit more next year as well.

"So to understand their culture was good. Just in terms of keeping fit, keeping sharp, and still having that thinking process about how to make the car better, keep pushing... It was good to have that programme, and I'm happy that I had this experience now.

"It's a professional championship. I think I'm probably the youngest driver in Super Formula, which was quite strange, because everybody has just so much experience there, they've been racing there for a long time.

"In the beginning it wasn't easy to come in and do well, but I think that enabled me to raise my game a little bit as well, and really fight for things. It was a good experience racing against competitive drivers."

Just experiencing a different way of working was useful: "First of all, I think what was very difficult was the communication in the beginning, because there were two guys in the team who I could speak to, who were my engineer and team manager. It's very difficult to build that relationship with the rest of the team.

"And then in terms of how they operate, how they set up a car is quite a bit different to what I've been used to in Europe.

"It was good to experience that. I had to do a lot of the work as well whilst being there, whilst in Europe you have a very professional team around you, they can show exactly you exactly what you have to do, what is going on with the car, which wasn't always the case there.

"But I think it was good for me to push the team forward, and learn from their culture as well."

Hamilton worked incredibly hard in the winter of 2006-'7, spending much time as possible at the MTC and visiting all the departments, and Vandoorne is doing exactly the same.

"Definitely I'll spend quite a bit of time in the factory with the engineers and the simulator. There's a lot of work to do with the new regulations coming in.

"It's going to be busy, but as usual always a lot of work to do with the team, and building a strong group around me, and learning to understand each other is a big part of success in Formula 1.

"So spending some time with mechanics, with the engineers and all the people I'm going to be working with closely is going to be very important."

Regulation changes

One other aspect Vandoorne and Hamilton share is timing – both came in during a year of major change, when established drivers had to do a re-set. In 2007 the main focus was the tyres, with Michelin having left and Bridgestone landing the role of exclusive supplier.

Alonso is adamant to this day that Hamilton benefited from that scenario, as drivers had to adapt their styles, and he sees a parallel with 2017.

You can argue that more experienced drivers have done it all before and can deal easily with change, but the fact that much past data is now irrelevant can only help Vandoorne.

"I think experience always helps, no matter what," he says. "But with all the changes coming in, I think it mixes it up a little bit. In general drivers are pretty good at figuring out new things, and I think after a day or two of testing we'll have more or less have figured out how to drive the cars.

"Then it's going to be working hard with the team to understand the tyres, understand the new aerodynamics. Hopefully we can see some good developments through the season as well.

"I'll still go into the season trying to do my best, as usual. I think for me what is different this time, the previous seasons or series I was in, I knew I could fight for a championship, while now everything is a little bit up in the air. Still, I'm very new in Formula 1, there's a lot of things I still have to learn.

"We have no idea where the car performance will be as well next year. Hopefully it'll will be a good step forward. But then for the rest I think my approach will stay the same, and I will try to do my best for the team."