Fernando Alonso could’ve won Sebastian Vettel’s 4 Red Bull titles had he accepted Christian Horner’s Red Bull proposal

Fernando Alonso came insanely close to winning the Formula 1 World Championship thrice more after he was already crowned twice during his years with Renault. Facing intense competition from Sebastian Vettel in his dominant era, he kept losing the title narrowly until the V6 era arrived in the sport.

However, as recently revealed by Christian Horner, Alonso would have won the world championship at least four more times if the latter had accepted his offer. He wanted to sign him at Red Bull (who would eventually go on to dominate) mid-season in 2009, but it didn't happen.

"Halfway through 2009, I had him approach to say 'Could he join the team mid-season?' Because they thought he could win the championship in that car."

One of the major reasons for Sebastian Vettel's four consecutive championship victories from 2010 to 2013 was the highly dominating Red Bull that the team had produced. Undoubtedly, the German's driving gets the credit, too. However, Fernando Alonso wasn't any less competitive than him.

This meant that if the Spaniard had the chance of driving with Red Bull in those years instead of Vettel, he could have been a six-time world champion, and history could have been way different from what we know today.

Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel during the 2011 GP of Germany (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

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Fernando Alonso looking forward to 'crush' competition in the season ahead

Alonso has had a massive start to the 2023 season with Aston Martin, where he iconically replaced Vettel who retired from the sport after the 2022 season. The team developed well enough during the offseason and has been extremely competitive. They currently sit third in the standings and the double world champion has been on the podium for all but two races.

However, the Spanish GP, his home race, wasn't as competitive for him. With Mercedes' development of the W14, they had the podium covered with a P2 and P3 finish. Alonso is still pretty much optimistic for the season ahead as he mentioned to the media when asked about the podium loss in Spain.

"It will not happen again. This is the last race without the podium."

Fernando Alonso also warned the competition for the next race, the Canadian Grand Prix.

"I think it’s just one race – and then in Canada, we crush them."

It will be interesting to see if the veteran can defeat his rival from the last 16 years, Lewis Hamilton.