Christian Horner Makes Huge U-Turn on His 2018 Fernando Alonso Comments With Recent Red Bull Job Revelation

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner recently made a huge revelation about his side wanting to sign Fernando Alonso on three occasions before they settled for Sebastian Vettel. However, Horner’s recent statements come in stark contrast to the remarks he made back in 2018.

In 2018, Horner was attempting to fact-check Alonso when the Spaniard stated that Red Bull had approached him on six occasions. While Horner admitted that his side had shown interest in signing Alonso, he clarified that they had just attempted to sign the 41-year-old once.

“We did offer Fernando Alonso a contract, but that was back in 2007! To my knowledge, no one within Red Bull has offered him one since,” explained Horner in an interview with UK broadcaster Channel 4.

And that is not it, as Horner also expressed surprise in 2018 when Alonso had claimed that Red Bull had approached him for a seat for the 2019 season. The 49-year-old stated that he was unsure where this information came from.

Christian Horner makes a huge U-turn over previous remarks

While speaking to motorsportmagazine.com, Christian Horner made a massive U-turn over his prior statements. He admitted that his side had attempted to sign Fernando Alonso on three events. In all three instances, the 49-year-old admitted, it was the Spaniard who was not interested in the move.

When asked how close Red Bull was to signing Alonso, Horner replied (as quoted by motor.es), “We were very close.” The Red Bull team principal then added that he approached Alonso’s management with an offer for the 2008 and 2009 seasons before explaining why the move failed.

Red Bull & Christian Horner tried to upgrade from Vettel by signing Alonso 3 times!

Even in 2009 MIDSEASON because they didn’t believe Vettel could win the championship 💀💀💀

Even after the Newey rocketship won 2 times in a row. They tried to upgrade to Alonso 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/TNHr55Kfvs

— Gatsby Fernando Alonso (@caligulanow) June 8, 2023

“He only wanted to sign for one season. But Red Bull and Mr. Mateschitz’s position was two years or nothing, and he didn’t commit to it,” explained Horner.

Despite things not working out in 2008, Horner revealed they also approached Alonso in future seasons. After explaining all the times they offered Alonso a contract, Horner concluded his remarks by stating it was only the first offer that was the “most serious.”

Alonso arguably made a huge mistake by not accepting Red Bull’s offer

Considering the staggering amount of success that Red Bull has had over the past 10-15 years, it seems that Fernando Alonso made a tremendous mistake by not accepting their offer. The Milton Keynes outfit not only won four Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships from 2010 to 2013 but has also had success recently.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen is dominating the sport by winning the title in 2021 and 2022 and cruising in the current year. While Alonso did come close to winning the title in 2010 and 2012 with Ferrari, his choice of moves has been a sheer disaster.

In 2015, Alonso chose to move to McLaren, a team that even struggled to finish in the points for several seasons. With things not improving at the British outfit for several seasons, a frustrated Spaniard finally decided to leave the team and retire at the end of the 2019 season.

Two years later, Alonso returned to F1 with Alpine (formerly Renault), a team with which he won his two world championships in 2005 and 2006. With this shift not working out, he moved to Aston Martin at the beginning of this season.

Considering that Alonso has been fighting for podiums consistently this season, his move to Aston Martin seems to be showing promising signs. Now Alonso will hope that Aston Martin can improve their car and allow him to fight for wins and potentially a championship in the future.