Fernando Alonso’s potential Red Bull move would have been once of the most shocking in F1 history, pairing up Alonso and Verstappen to create one of the most fearsome partnerships in F1 history.
Alas, it never happened, and Alonso reveals that he did not sign for Red Bull because he wants to win again.
He has not tasted victory in F1 since his home race in Barcelona in 2013, although he has rediscovered that winning feeling in the World Endurance Championship, including this year’s Le Mans.
Le Mans was his second of motorsport’s triple crown which Alonso is aiming for. He only has the Indy 500 left to win, which has sparked rumours of him joining the IndyCar circuit for next season.
However, an IndyCar move wasn’t the reason he rejected Red Bull, as he has now revealed.
He told Autosport: “I had other offers as well, I don’t think my targets or my challenges for next year were in F1 anymore.
“The offers I had, including that one, they were not for winning.”
Red Bull have been way off the pace during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend and Alonso used that as proof of his reasoning for not joining the Austrian team.
“They are probably, on performance, more than one second from pole position, as we saw [in Belgian GP qualifying].
“To be fifth or sixth or seventh will not be the same challenge or enthusiasm as I can find away from F1 in 2019.
“I made my decision a couple of months ago and I’m extremely happy with that.”
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