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Christian Horner has revealed that Fernando Alonso “missed his likelihood” to maneuver to Pink Bull 15 years in the past after turning down a two-year contract provide.
Alonso, a two-time world champion with Renault in 2005 and 2006, was again at Renault in 2008 after a yr to neglect at McLaren in 2007, when he was concerned in a high-profile squabble with rookie Lewis Hamilton.
Aspiring to be in a aggressive automobile as soon as extra, Alonso was in talks with Pink Bull on the finish of 2008, Horner says, however as a substitute stayed at Renault earlier than becoming a member of Ferrari in 2010.
“We received very near signing Alonso,” Horner instructed Motor Sport journal.
“Helmut [Marko] and I went to see his administration on the finish of 2008 for the ’09 and ’10 season and we provided him a two-year contract.
“He would solely join one yr and we mentioned Pink Bull’s place was a two-year deal or nothing and he wouldn’t decide to that. We thought he’d had a Ferrari contract very clearly for ’09.
“What was bizarre about that was that Flavio [Briatore] was concerned as properly, however he was making an attempt to get him for Renault which he was managing on the time and ultimately he drove for Renault.”
Whereas Alonso did not win one other title, Sebastian Vettel received 4 championships in a row with Pink Bull from 2010-2013, with Alonso ending runner-up in three of these 4 years.
Fernando Alonso was provided a two-year contract to hitch Pink Bull, says Christian Horner
(Getty Photographs)
Horner added that Alonso’s administration returned in 2009 to ask if the Spaniard might be part of Pink Bull regardless of beforehand turning the staff down.
“Midway by means of ’09, I had an strategy to say ‘might he be part of mid-season?’ as a result of they thought he might win the championship within the automobile,” he mentioned.
“Then we had one other dialog behind an Alfa Romeo at Spa airport a number of years later in ’11 or ’12. Once more, it by no means actually… essentially the most severe dialogue was the primary one after which it missed its likelihood.”
Alonso, at 41 years of age, is now at Aston Martin and continues to be chasing down Pink Bull, with Max Verstappen main the 2023 championship by 59 factors to team-mate Sergio Perez.
Alonso is third within the standings, 71 factors behind Verstappen, forward of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
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