The good, the bad and the ugly: Fernando Alonso's season at McLaren in 2007

Henry Ford said history is bunk and, as another visionary in the same line of business, you may think McLaren boss Ron Dennis is of the same opinion.

But since the events of 2007, culminating in Fernando Alonso's sudden departure after less than a year at Woking, represent perhaps the most controversial slice of F1 history in recent years, they're impossible to ignore. They’ve been there lurking throughout the protracted negotiations that finally concluded with Thursday's announcement that Alonso will return to the team for 2015.

It's those memories that have left people pondering the obvious question: could it actually work this time?

In a sense, it did then. Alonso might argue as much; even though focus was inevitably trained on Lewis Hamilton’s remarkable rookie season, in the final reckoning he didn’t beat the Spaniard. But the fact both were beaten by Kimi Raikkonen gave Alonso vindication when he left. That was his worry all along.

In reality, it didn’t work. In fact, it turned out a right mess: intense personal ambition colliding with a rigid desire for sporting equality, played out against a backdrop of industrial espionage. Alonso left in early November, just one year into a three-year contract. But it had all seemed so promising 11 months earlier...

January: Alonso arrived as double world champion. And if his new Action Man crewcut was anything to go by, he was keen to impress his new boss who, as we all know, likes things to be just so. He’d signed in November 2005 - right after he'd won his first title in Brazil, in fact, when Dennis made overtures on the podium. Juan Pablo Montoya won that race from Raikkonen but both had left McLaren by the end of the following year.

When Dennis lured Alonso away from Renault, meanwhile, Hamilton had just won the F3 Euroseries; a McLaren protégé he might have been, but he didn’t figure then. However, a victorious GP2 campaign the following year, coupled with the departure of both their superstars (Montoya ahead of schedule) had suddenly placed him on the fast-track.

March: Alonso qualified second for the Australian GP, with Hamilton fourth. Both finished on the podium, well beaten by Raikkonen (now at Ferrari) but the rookie’s statement of intent – passing his team-mate at the start of the race – was duly noted. Meanwhile, Britain woke up to a new sporting hero.

May: Hamilton’s consistency (he eventually racked up nine podium finishes in his first nine races) gave him the championship lead by the Spanish GP. By then, Alonso knew his team-mate was the real deal. "After one or two races, we saw him become a championship contender and we still see him as one now," he said in Barcelona after finishing third behind Hamilton and the race winner, Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Yet he still seemed confident he would eventually prevail, adding: "But he is the one who worries me least because he is my team-mate and we are here to help each other.” 

So far, so 'on message'. But Lewis had yet to win and after following Alonso home at Monaco, he was emboldened to say he felt he could have - but the team told him not to risk overtaking. Because of the team orders ban, the FIA announced an investigation but cleared McLaren of any wrongdoing.

June: Hamilton got the winning habit with back-to-back victories in Canada and Indianapolis. And Alonso was clearly getting frustrated: he chased Ham