Red Bull lost interest in Alonso after secret meeting in 2007

Alonso in 2007

The saga of Red Bull’s alleged “numerous offers" to lure Fernando Alonso has entered a new chapter with Helmut Marko weighing in with his version of events on why we never saw the Spaniard suit up in the blue of the bulls.

During the F1 summer break last year, a war of words erupted between Alonso and team principal Christian Horner, the latter claiming his team had no interest in hiring the Spaniard for 2019, prompting the F1 double-world champion to charge that he has been approached by Red Bull on half a dozen occasions during his career.

At the time, Alonso said, “In fact from Red Bull, I received offers in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and two this year – one in Monaco and one in August."

Speaking five months since the Alonso-Horner spat grabbed headlines, Marko revealed for the first time that the closest a deal was ever reached with the two-times F1 World Champion was 12 years ago while insisting that an approach for 2019, let alone talks, did not happen.

Rewind to 2007, with Alonso’s tenure at McLaren going pear-shaped, amid his role as a snitch in the Spygate scandal, he started to look for alternatives. Renault were keen to have him back, which is what happened eventually and, apparently, there was also interest in him from Toyota.

Meanwhile, with Red Bull acquiring the services of design maestro Adrian Newey, the team was obviously attractive for Alonso and according to Marko, in an interview with Motorsport-Total, a secret meeting between their delegation and Alonso’s manager Luis Garcia Abad took place during the Autumn of 2007, in Madrid.

Not long after Alonso was also seen, in McLaren gear, cozying up to Red Bull at the Belgian Grand Prix that year. His antics with Horner were snapped by photographers. Something was clearly brewing.

Marko confirmed that they listened to the conditions set by Alonso’s manager, “They were very demanding, not so much the financial side but about the PR appearances, about the freedoms with his merchandising line and the like."

“We said: Okay, let’s have a look in detail. You have to send us a draft contract and we agreed to meet again within a week. There was nothing for two weeks and after three weeks, we told Garcia-Abad: Thanks, we’re not interested any more."

“So, there was a conversation in 2007 but that did not work out. There was no offer from our side and it was never an issue for us. For this year, I spoke to neither Alonso nor Briatore," insisted Marko.

At the time of the spat last year, Horner explained, “Just to make it clear that there was no bid for Fernando Alonso for 2019."

“There was a request from Flavio Briatore, there was a request from Liberty Media if we did not have a cockpit for him, but we have always made it clear that we are investing in our own juniors, yes, we once made an offer to Fernando, but that was already in 2007."

“Maybe Franz [Tost, Toro Rosso chief] made him an offer! But Red Bull did not, we have always said clearly that Fernando does not fit into our future plans," added Horner.

With Daniel Ricciardo moving to Renault, Red Bull have promoted Pierre Gasly, from within the ranks of drivers they have groomed, to partner Max Verstappen in their team this coming season.

While the absence of Alonso – acknowledged as one of the top three drivers of this generation – is a travesty, the consensus is that he simply burned too many bridges during his time in the top flight and the Red Bull bridge was one he had not even crossed, but he torched it anyway. grandprix247