Fernando Alonso lifts lid on secret Adrian Newey ‘meetings’ over Red Bull near miss

Fernando Alonso has revealed that he twice came close to working with Adrian Newey at Red Bull before the pair were finally united at Aston Martin for the F1 2025 season and beyond.

Alonso stands as one of the most successful drivers of his generation, with two World Championships and 32 grand prix victories to his name.

When Fernando Alonso almost joined forces with Adrian Newey at Red Bull

However, the Spaniard has not added to his title tally since 2006 having missed out on the 2010 and 2012 crowns – to Sebastian Vettel in a Newey-designed Red Bull – by four and three points respectively.

Aston Martin announced last month that Alonso and Newey will join forces in F1 2025, with the F1 design guru – the most decorated individual in F1 history with more than 200 race wins and a combined total of 25 Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles – arriving at Silverstone as managing technical partner.

Newey’s arrival at Aston Martin has offered renewed hope that Alonso, 43, could end his wait for an elusive third title triumph when Formula 1’s new regulations are introduced for the F1 2026 season.

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Appearing on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast, Alonso explained that he came close to working with Newey on two occasions in the past, having considered a switch to Red Bull following his departure from McLaren at the end of 2007 before deciding to rejoin Renault.

And he revealed that a second opportunity to join Red Bull emerged the following year, when he and Newey met in the backseat of a car in the aftermath of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

The Spaniard ultimately elected to join Ferrari as Red Bull signed Vettel, who would storm to four consecutive titles between 2010 and 2013.

Asked if he regards it as a missed opportunity that he never joined Red Bull, Alonso said: “I haven’t thought too much about that. Never. Not [during] those years and not even now.

“I never regret anything. I know that some decisions in your Formula 1 career can change a lot what you achieve, what you cannot achieve.

“But I think when you take a decision, you take it fully committed to that and thinking that it’s the best decision. No one has a crystal ball to know what is going to happen in the future.

“2008? I think it was one of the few moments that are well known that I could have joined Red Bull.

“One was when I left McLaren at the end of 2007. After that season in McLaren, I found different possibilities.

“I met Adrian [and] Christian [Horner] in Heathrow airport for a meeting.

“And then in 2008 was the closest, which Adrian referred to the other day as well.

“We were in Spa. I remember perfectly. We were in a car park in Spa airport, the little airport on top of the hill. We were in that car park, sitting in the back seats, both of us at night, talking about the possibility.

“And I was very close to [joining] Ferrari. If it was not in 2009, it would be for sure in 2010.

“We went [down] that road and they took Sebastian, who was in BMW at that time, doing some Fridays and some test driving in BMW. That was it.”

Asked why it didn’t feel right to join Red Bull then, Alonso pointed to the team’s mediocre record across their first few seasons in F1, with Red Bull scoring just three podiums between 2005 and 2008 before emerging as title contenders in 2009.

He added: “It’s easy to say now, but back in 2008 Red Bull [had not achieved a lot in F1].

“Red Bull was an energy drink company. Great team, great members in the team, but I think to predict that they will win seven or eight championships in the next decade?

“It was not totally guaranteed.”

Recollections appear to vary in the timeline of Alonso’s backseat meeting with Newey at Spa, with the latter claiming last year that it actually occurred at the 2013 race when Alonso was driving for Ferrari.

Put to him that he was discussing a deal with Alonso in a car at Spa airport after the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix, Newey told the BBC: “You have a good memory.

“That’s a regret that that never happened because I have a tremendous respect for Fernando.”

If Newey’s version of events is accurate, his meeting with Alonso would have come just weeks after the two-time World Champion publicly indicated a willingness to leave Ferrari for the first time, remarking after the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix that he would like “someone else’s car” as a present for his 32nd birthday.

That comment earned Alonso a rebuke from then-Ferrari president Luca di Montzemolo, with the Scuderia releasing an unprecedented statement on the matter.

It read: “There is a need to close ranks, without giving in to rash outbursts that, while understandable in the immediate aftermath of a bad result, are no use to anyone.

“That was a reference to the latest comments from Fernando Alonso, which did not go down well with Montezemolo, nor with anyone in the team.

“So, when Montezemolo called the Spaniard this morning to wish him a happy birthday, he also tweaked his ear, reminding him that: ‘All the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been asked to put the interests of the team above their own.

‘This is the moment to stay calm, avoid polemics and show humility and determination in making one’s own contribution, standing alongside the team and its people both at the track and outside it.’

Alonso’s departure from Ferrari was confirmed at the end of the following season, with the Spaniard spending a disastrous three-year spell with McLaren-Honda before taking a sabbatical at the conclusion of the 2018 campaign.

He returned to F1 with Alpine in 2021 before joining Aston Martin in 2023.

Alonso remains without an F1 victory since winning his home race, the Spanish Grand Prix, for Ferrari in May 2013.

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