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Red Bull’s plan to sign Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin has been revealed by Christian Horner, who has also explained why the move never happened.

Horner was team principal of Red Bull from the team’s inception in 2005 until he was dramatically dismissed after two decades at last year’s British Grand Prix. But in the run-up to his final season with the team, Horner has revealed the incredible plan to pair two-time world champion Alonso with the team’s No. 1 driver, Max Verstappen.

Red Bull had just ended 2024 with Verstappen hanging on to win his fourth world championship, but the team were forced into third place in the constructors’ championship after their second driver, Sergio Perez, saw his form fall off a cliff.

While Verstappen was seeing off a late title challenge from McLaren’s Lando Norris, the Mexican was limping along to eighth in the championship, having not scored a single podium after the fifth round of the season.

Christian Horner’s Fernando Alonso Plan

According to Horner, Perez’s struggles prompted him to develop a plan to sign Alonso alongside Verstappen in what would have been one of the most highly anticipated driver pairings of all time.

However, the former team boss admits in his new book, Drive, that his idea was shot down by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko on behalf of Verstappen, although the Dutchman himself never said no to the idea.

Horner said: “Sergio Perez’s form was unrecognisable compared to the driver he had been in previous seasons. I decided to look for a possible replacement.”

Horner recalled that the now 45-year-old Alonso had approached him about the possibility just four races into the 2024 campaign.

“During the Japanese Grand Prix, Fernando even told me that he really wanted to drive alongside Max the following season.”

He added: “Subsequently, Helmut (Marko), apparently on behalf of Verstappen’s management team, made it clear that they were not happy with that idea.”

Red Bull’s Plan B (and C) Failed

And that’s that. Instead, Alonso remains at a struggling Aston Martin to this day, while Red Bull promoted Liam Lawson to the second Red Bull seat for 2025 before sending him back down to Racing Bulls after just two races.

Yuki Tsunoda then filled the seat for the rest of the season, but, just like Lawson and Perez before him, he never got anywhere near Verstappen’s pace.

Horner claims he was never convinced by the idea of throwing Lawson in at the deep end.

He said: “I didn’t feel comfortable with it. He was young and inexperienced, with only eleven Formula 1 races to his name, and we were asking a huge amount of him.”