Fernando Alonso says he turned down an offer from Red Bull to replace Daniel Ricciardo because the team could not offer him the level of performance he desired to stay in Formula One.
Despite Red Bull team principal Christian Horner insisting he has only once offered Alonso a drive in 2007, the two time champion, who will leave F1 at the end of the year, claims he has had five offers to drive for the team over the years, including one for 2019.
The prospect of Alonso having driven for Red Bull at the start of the decade is a tantalising one given team’s success between 2010 and 2013, but Alonso says there is no incentive to drive for the team now it is struggling to match Mercedes and Ferrari.
“I did refuse four or five offers,” he said. “I had other offers as well. I don’t think that my targets or my challenges for next year were any more in Formula One at this point. The offers that I had, including that one, they were not for winning because they are probably all the offers that I had on performance, they are more than one second away from pole position.
“To be fifth or sixth or seventh or whatever, I think they will not be the same challenges or the same enthusiasm that I can find away from Formula 1 in 2019. I made my decision a couple of months ago and I’m extremely happy with that.”
The one offer Horner and Alonso both agree on is the one from 2007. It came after the Spaniard had spent a turbulent season at McLaren, falling out with team boss Ron Dennis and missing out on the title by one point to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
At that point Red Bull had not won a race since entering the sport in 2005 and, with his McLaren contract set to be terminated, Alonso chose to return to Renault where he had won two titles in 2005 and 2006.
“At that time, to be honest, in 2007, I had a tough decision to make after McLaren,” he explained. “I had Red Bull, I had Toyota, and I had Renault coming back. I chose Renault just because they were family to me at that time, and Red Bull in 2007, they were not very competitive, and Toyota also was struggling.
“Then in 2009, it was a little bit of a stressful time. I had like four days to decide [if I wanted to go to Red Bull], and I was talking quite seriously with Ferrari. At that time, I thought Ferrari was the safest team and the best choice for the future. I’m still proud to make that decision. Maybe if you have a crystal ball, you change opinion, but if not, you will not say no to Ferrari in 2009.
“Then in 2011 and 2013, I think it was more about [Mark] Webber being always in doubt at this part of the year, always around Spa we had normally the meetings. I was happy in Ferrari. Maybe we were not winning the championship, but at the same time, it seems that in Ferrari we were not competitive, and it’s a long time that we were not winning, but we were three times second in the world championship.”
The debate over the various offers was kicked off over the summer break when Horner said Alonso would not be the “healthiest” fit for the team because he has a tendency to cause “chaos” wherever he has driven. Alonso said he was offended by Horner’s comments and his manager wrote an email to Horner to demand an explanation.
“I was disappointed with his comments in the summer about my way of working or my character or whatever, because he never worked with me,” Alonso said. “I don’t think that the people working with me had any complaints. I’ve been racing for Renault, I came back to Renault — if they were not very happy probably they do not call me back.
“Same with McLaren now in this second chapter. They were not probably thinking the same of those comments. The same with now Toyota [in WEC] or Andretti last year [in IndyCar], whatever works with me, it’s absolutely fine.
“It was strange to read that comment from a guy that never worked with me first of all, and secondly a guy that was chasing me for many years of my career, offered me a seat to race in the following year, and then suddenly speaks about me and about my character and whatever.
“I immediately wrote him an email, my manager did, and he said it was a misunderstanding and he apologised. That was the only thing. I’m here, nine races to go, and there is absolutely no problem, wishing the best for them. I’m happy with how things are right now.
“I will not answer to anything that they say. I answered already. The truth is there. I know that he commented — that he only offered me a contract in 2007, while last year, he was doing an interview for the Red Bull TV saying that he offered me a couple of occasions the seat to drive, and if I would have accepted in 2009 or 2011 or 2013 when he did, I probably would be four-time world champion.
“But on Friday he offered me only in 2007. He’s answering the truth already, you don’t need to add anything to that.”