Red Bull reveal Fernando Alonso conditions as third meeting comes to light
"Well, back in my day..."
Christian Horner has revealed that he held exploratory talks with Fernando Alonso earlier this year over a sensational move to Red Bull for the F1 2025 season before deciding to re-sign Sergio Perez.
It comes after Alonso claimed this week that he considered a switch to Red Bull on two occasions in the past.
Christian Horner: Fernando Alonso held Red Bull F1 2025 talks this year
The most experienced driver in the sport’s history, having made his debut as long ago as 2001, Alonso is making his 400th appearance at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
The current Aston Martin star stands as one of the most successful drivers of his generation, with two World Championships and 32 race victories to his name.
However, Alonso has failed to add to his title tally since 2006 and remains without a win since his penultimate year with Ferrari in 2013, with many pundits questioning his career choices over the years.
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Appearing on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast this week, Alonso revealed that he twice came close to joining Red Bull in the past.
Alonso said he first held negotiations with Red Bull following his departure from McLaren at the end of 2007, when he met Horner and Adrian Newey at Heathrow airport for talks before electing to rejoin Renault.
The second opportunity, he claimed, came after the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix where he held talks with Newey in the backseat of a car under the cover of darkness at Spa airport.
Alonso later went on to join Ferrari as Red Bull signed Sebastian Vettel, who went on to pip Alonso to the title by four and three points respectively in 2010 and 2012.
Alonso insisted that he does not regret missing the chance to join Red Bull, claiming “it was not totally guaranteed” at the time that the team would emerge as a title-winning force in F1.
Paying tribute to the two-time World Champion in Mexico, Horner confirmed Red Bull’s talks with Alonso – revealing the prospect of a deal for 2008 collapsed as the driver was insistent on a short-term contract.
And he let slip that the two parties held talks earlier this year over a deal for F1 2025, before Alonso opted to sign a new deal with Aston Martin until at least the end of the 2026 season.
Horner told media including PlanetF1.com: “He’s a formidable competitor.
“At the end of his McLaren stint, the first one in 2008, I remember going to Madrid and pushing to get him in the car.
“We wanted to do a two-year deal and he was only prepared to sign for one year. And we were convinced he had a Ferrari contract in his back pocket at that point, so we didn’t get to a deal.
“Had he come to us in 2009, maybe things could have looked slightly differently.
“And even halfway through the 2009 season, he was convinced if he got in our car he could still win the championship that year. So that was that point.
“We then had a conversation, I remember meeting with him with Adrian in the back of a hire car at Spa airport – I think that was around 2011, ‘11 or ’12, about coming across from Ferrari. And then even as early as the beginning of this year.
“So it’s incredible the longevity that he’s had, the competitiveness that he has and the statistics for the talent that he has and the ability he has.
“Two World Championships don’t do him justice. He should have won more than that.”
Pressed on his talks with Alonso earlier this year, Horner claimed the Aston Martin driver and his manager, Flavio Briatore, were “testing the market” before Red Bull offered a new two-year contract to Perez.
Alonso was briefly linked with a move to Red Bull in the spring as the first doubts emerged over Max Verstappen’s future, claiming at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka that he had a “feeling” that Verstappen would be staying put for F1 2025.
His new Aston Martin deal was confirmed seven days later.
Horner explained: “At that time, Sergio’s contract hadn’t been extended.
“As Fernando is a seasoned operator, he always wants to know all of his options, and between him and his manager or adviser of many years, Flavio, they’re always testing the market.
“It just shows how hungry and competitive he is and he’s still delivering at 43 years of age.
“He’s still in great shape and it just shows that age is just a number. He’s still a very, very capable grand prix driver and, given the tools, I’m sure he’d be at the front.”
Recollections appear to vary over the exact timeline of Alonso’s backseat meeting with Red Bull’s hierarchy at Spa airport, with Newey 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, who will finally join forces with the Spaniard at Aston Martin next season, 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 at the beginning of 2021 before joining Aston Martin last year.
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