‘I had a few moments’ – Alonso opens up on past Red Bull talks and how he could have joined the squad

Fernando Alonso has given an insight into how he potentially could have joined Red Bull in the past, having held talks with the Milton Keynes outfit at more than one stage of his career – though the Spaniard insists that he has no regrets about the move not happening.

After making his debut in the sport with Minardi back in 2001, Alonso soon went on to achieve huge success with Renault, scoring back-to-back championships in the 2005 and 2006 campaigns.

But when his switch to McLaren in 2007 resulted in intra-team tensions that saw him leave the squad at the end of the year, the two-time champion ended up returning to Renault in 2008 – but also came close to moving to Red Bull.

During an appearance on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast – brought to you by Salesforce, a Global Partner of Formula 1 – Alonso was quizzed on whether he had any regrets about that switch not happening, particularly given that his subsequent five-year stint with Ferrari from 2010 to 2014 saw him lose out in several championship fights to Sebastian Vettel.

“I didn't think too much about that. Never. Not those years and not even now,” said Alonso. “I never regret anything. I know that some decisions in your Formula 1 career can change a lot what you achieve, what you cannot achieve.

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“But I think when you take a decision, you take it fully committed to that and thinking that is the best decision. No one has a crystal ball to know what is going to happen in the future. 2008, I had a few moments that I could join Red Bull. One was when I left McLaren at the end of 2007.

“After that season, I find different possibilities. I met Adrian [Newey] and Christian [Horner] in Heathrow Airport for a meeting. And then 2008 was the closest. I remember perfectly, we were in a car park at Spa airport, the little airport on top of the hill.

“We were in that car park, sitting in the back seats, both of us at night, talking about the possibility. I was very close to Ferrari. If it was not [happening] in 2009, [it] would be for sure in 2010. We went into that road and they took Sebastian [who] was in BMW at that time, doing some Fridays and some test driving in BMW.”

Alonso admits that predicting whether a move to another team is going to pay off or not can be challenging, with Red Bull having not yet achieved the success that they went on to experience when he spoke with them back then.

SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 26: Race winner Fernando Alonso (R) of Spain and Ferrari celebrates on the — Alonso joined Ferrari in 2010 – but was beaten to that year's title, as well as others in the seasons that followed, by Red Bull's Vettel

“It's easy to say now but back in 2008, Red Bull had I think one podium of David [Coulthard] in Monaco, and Red Bull was an energy drink company,” the 43-year-old explained. “Great team, great members in the team, but I think to predict that they will win seven or eight championships in the next decade, it was not totally guaranteed.

“When Lewis changed from McLaren to Mercedes, that first year in 2013 [there were] a lot of critics, ‘why [have] you changed McLaren for a Mercedes that was only achieving one or two podiums until then?’ And now he’s a seven-time world champion.

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“Now the same with Ferrari. You don't know what Lewis will achieve next year. If Ferrari does well and wins a championship, it's a great move. If Mercedes does well and they win a championship, it's a bad move. How you can predict that?”

Alonso, meanwhile, has committed his future to Aston Martin, having signed a fresh deal with the squad earlier this year that will see him remain on board through to 2026.