Red Bull's Fernando Alonso mistake cost Max Verstappen the F1 world championship

Christian Horner has let slip that he was looking to land Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin for the 2025 season.

Now before we think how close we got to having one of the most blockbuster driver pairings of all time with the two-time world champion and Max Verstappen, let's remember that this pursuit was also pretty much dead as soon as it started.

According to Horner in his new book 'Drive' he was approached by Alonso in the opening rounds of the 2024 season over the prospect of being Verstappen's team-mate for 2025.

But even if Horner was looking to make the move, the former Red Bull team boss quickly came to a roadblock when management on behalf of Verstappen, including Helmut Marko, to stop the move - at least by Horner's accounts.

What Horner does admit here is Verstappen himself never blocked the move but analysing how the 2025 season eventually panned out, it's not ridiculous to suggest that stopping Alonso from joining Red Bull ultimately cost the team, and Verstappen, the drivers' world title.

Now, I give you that we are dealing in 'ifs' and 'buts' here but you have to breakdown the 2025 story.

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How Verstappen lost the F1 2025 title

McLaren had the best car but two very equal drivers in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who maybe through nerves, lost form during the season. First Norris, then Piastri once his massive championship lead became a noose around the neck of his title dreams.

After the Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen was 104 points behind leader Piastri - by the end of the season he had beaten him by 11 points having gone on an extraordinary run of 10 straight podiums including six wins.

Despite this, Norris didn't fumble the ball as badly as Piastri and instead took the title by just two points. That's 24 races - and the only thing between Verstappen and Norris was no more than the difference between finishing eighth or ninth.

One complete absence from this title battle was Verstappen's team-mate in Yuki Tsunoda, who having replaced the equally hapless Liam Lawson after just two races, could do no better than sixth place all season. As far as help in a title fight goes, he was about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike.

This is important because Verstappen's title battle was always a game of catch up. Even with his wins, he needed more cars to be between him and the super fast McLarens. That should have been Red Bull's No. 2 and it never was.

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Alonso and Verstappen at Red Bull

As you may have guessed this is where I bring up Alonso and honestly, we will never know how good he could have been in a Red Bull car so heavily designed around Verstappen's driving style.

Also as good as Alonso is, at 44 in 2025, it's hard to see him having had the consistent pace to beat Verstappen over the season at his own team.

But it is probably fair to suggest he could have done a much better job in the second Red Bull compared to Tsunoda, Lawson or even Sergio Perez - whose collapse in form during 2024 made the 2025 Red Bull drive open in the first place.

Now, you may suggest why would Alonso risk his career to race against Verstappen in the same car? That's a good question, but it's probably fair to assume Alonso would hold minor hopes of still beating Verstappen, but even then would happily be a slightly slower driver if it meant he could rack up podiums and wins again like anything before 2014.

The age factor would actually help him here too. He can always say at his peak he could be a match for Verstappen and it could never be challenged. Reputation intact.

Now you may think Alonso would be a destabilising factor, but at this point in his career the Spaniard would just be overjoyed to be driving a half-decent car again, if it works out he has to play a supporting role in the championship to Verstappen, he wouldn't neglect that.

It seems Red Bull disagreed on that, or even feared Alonso could beat Verstappen.

How Alonso wins Verstappen the 2025 title

If Alonso did join Red Bull for 2025, the likely outcome is that Alonso plays a decent second best to the Dutchman and doesn't challenge him in the title race.

This makes him a decent support act. To save the bother of analysing all 24 races, we only need two to prove the point of how Alonso wins Verstappen the title.

The first is the Italian Grand Prix where Verstappen beat Norris and Piastri by around 20 seconds - it is absolutely possible Alonso can grab P2 here and deny Norris three points - enough to swing the title Verstappen's way.

The second is the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Again Verstappen breaks away from third placed Norris by over 15 seconds, offering another gap Alonso could have fitted into and deny Norris another three points and the title again.

These are just two examples and there are probably many more scenarios in 2025 where Alonso could have taken points off the McLarens that Tsunoda couldn't.

Ultimately, Red Bull were scared Alonso could possibly take the title away from Verstappen and in doing so only succeeded in allowing Tsunoda by proxy to do it instead.

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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