Hamilton (right) is being given equal billing to the world champion

The British youngster has earned equal billing with the world champion after his remarkable entrance on the world stage but Prost says it could backfire.

"I think it's a mistake to have two cars of the same status in the same team," said Prost.

"In the end it will work against them because it creates too many tensions."

Prost speaks from personal experience after his strained relationship with team-mate Ayrton Senna in the 1980s.

Between them, McLaren team-mates Prost and Senna won 15 of the 16 races in the 1988 championship, with Senna crowned champion, but their rivalry was ill-tempered.

In 1989 Prost won the title in controversial fashion after being forced out of the penultimate race of the season following a collision with Senna, who went on to win the race but was then disqualified.

The following year Prost moved to Ferrari but Senna got his revenge in Japan, colliding with Prost again to win the title back.

Prost also said that Hamilton's greater experience of using the team's race simulator was giving him the edge over Alonso this season.

"Hamilton has used the simulator much more than Alonso and he drives more smoothly than the Spaniard," he said.

"As a result I think it is easier for McLaren to adjust their cars to Hamilton's characteristics.

"But that doesn't disguise the fact that Alonso is a super driver, a great, great driver."