Why Alonso rejected alleged Red Bull offer

Fernando Alonso has claimed he turned down alleged approaches from Red Bull - and other teams - as he does not expect them to produce a race-winning car in 2019. Alonso will leave Formula 1 at the end of the year, with a full-time switch to IndyCar likely.

Alonso and Red Bull have been at loggerheads during the Belgian Grand Prix - Christian Horner flatly rejecting claims from Alonso that he was twice offered Daniel Ricciardo's vacant seat for next season.

Instead, Alonso will likely train his sights on winning the Indianapolis 500 in order to secure the 'Triple Crown' - a feat he believes will put him in a similar echelon to F1 record-breaker Michael Schuamcher.

"I had other offers as well," said Alonso. "I don't think my targets or my challenges for next year were in F1 anymore.

"The offers I had, including that one [from Red Bull], they were not for winning.

"They are probably, on performance, more than one second from pole position, as we saw [in qualifying at Spa].

"To be fifth or sixth or seventh will not be the same challenge or enthusiasm as I can find away from F1 in 2019.

"I made my decision a couple of months ago and I'm extremely happy with that."

Alonso claimed ahead of the weekend that he had also turned down Red Bull in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 - decisions which might have denied him any number of the world titles won by Sebastian Vettel between 2010 and 2013.

"I was happy at Ferrari," Alonso said. "We were maybe not winning the championship, and it seems like we were not competitive and a long time not winning, but we were second three times.

"In all the offers I had after that, I still had Ferrari in my heart and I believed the following year was the good one."