Fernando Alonso has claimed he turned down an offer for the vacant seat left by Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull in 2019.

After confirming he will leave Formula 1 at the end of the season during the summer break, unsurprisingly the Spaniard was a popular man ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix on Thursday.

However, it was in a conversation with Sky Sports that his revelation came out about Red Bull, a team who's boss Christian Horner had ruled out the Spaniard after Ricciardo's own surprising news.

“From one of the top three teams, l had the offer a couple of times this year,” Alonso said, later confirming it was the Anglo-Austrian team.

“It was not the case for me to join that adventure [because] at the moment F1 is not giving me the challenges I’m looking for," he explained.

“Outside F1, I’m discovering different series of motorsport that gives you different challenges and makes you a more complete driver and that’s what I’ll try to find in 2019."

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Indeed, despite previously suggesting his absence from the grid may only be temporary should McLaren's competitiveness improve, now the 37-year-old is suggesting it is more likely to be permanent.

"Right now I’m thinking that it’s a goodbye but you know, life changes very quickly," said the double world champion. "Life also taught me in the past how things may change, in a couple of months time or in year's time.

"As I said also in the press release when we announced the retirement, [I wanted] to leave the door open because I don’t have the crystal ball to know what’s going to happen in the future," he added.

"As I said, for me, it’s a bye-bye, but who knows in the future?"