Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has revealed both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton both attempted to join the Milton Keynes outfit during their period of success between 2010 and 2013.
Both drivers, at Ferrari and McLaren at the respective times, saw efforts to add to their championship tallies ended the Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel, in-particular Alonso, who took the German to a decider in 2010 and 2012.
There is more to the Spaniard’s story too, as it is known Red Bull approached the 36-year-old as far back as 2008 when looking for a replacement for the retiring David Coulthard but, as a lower midfield team at the time, the then Renault driver declined.
“We got very close to signing Alonso. Helmut and I went to see his management at the end of 2008 for the ’09 and ’10 season and we offered him a two-year contract,” Horner said in an interview with Motor Sport Magazine. “He would only sign up for one year and we said Red Bull’s position was a two-year deal or nothing, and he wouldn’t commit to that.
“We thought he’d had a Ferrari contract very clearly for ’09,” he continued on why Red Bull thought he walked away. “What was weird about that was that Flavio [Briatore] was involved as well, but he was trying to get him for Renault, which he was managing at the time and in the end, he drove for Renault for 10 years.”
When the team, thanks to renowned designer Adrian Newey, became a race-winning operation in 2009 due to the significant change in regulations, the Red Bull chief revealed the double world champion saw the error in his judgement and looked to make it right.
“Halfway through ’09, I had an approach to say ‘could he join mid-season?’ because they thought he could win the championship in the car,” Horner claimed.
“Then he had another conversation in the back of an Alfa Romeo at Spa airport several years later in ’11 or ’12, and again it never really…the most serious discussion was the first one and then it missed its chance.”
As for Hamilton, the Briton, Horner stated, was looking to Red Bull as he looked to move away from McLaren, the team he had been associated with since karting.
“We had a couple of chats. It never really gained significant momentum but he’s obviously a driver we rate extremely highly,” he was quoted by the Express newspaper.
“He was desperate to drive for the team. In 2012, he wanted to come and drive for us, but there was no way we could accommodate him while Sebastian was with us, then before he signed for Mercedes he was very keen to drive for Red Bull for 2013.”
Ultimately, the Mercedes move would prove the right one as the German manufacturer became the dominant force from 2014 and has allowed Hamilton to win three more titles since, his most recent coming last month in Mexico.