Alonso To Red Bull 'Not Going To Happen' According To Craig Slater

Thursday, 02 November 2023 at 13:00

Sky Formula F1 journalist Craig Slater responded to recent rumors suggesting Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso could replace Sergio Perez in Red Bull next year.

The second seat in Red Bull is one of the hottest seats in Formula One. A driver in the second seat of Red Bull gets the privilege of driving the dominant F1 car but also has to stand against the three-time World Champion Max Verstappen.

Sergio Perez has not been handling the pressure well with his recent bellow standard performances so numerous rumors started surfacing in the past few weeks about a potential replacement for the Mexican driver.

The first two on the substitution list are, of course, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda from the sister team of Red Bull - AlphaTauri. But some more wild rumors surfaced this week suggesting Fernando Alonso might be the one to replace Checo. Craig Slater told the Sky Sports F1 Podcast:

"My understanding is that that is a non-starter, that is not going to happen. As much as they admire Alonso at Red Bull and what he can do, he is not above Ricciardo as far as I understand it as an option to drive for that team next year."

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Ricciardo has been out of a few races due to injury. However, the driver has a history with Red Bull and has made a great comeback during the Mexico City Grand Prix scoring the best season's result for AlphaTauri. Slater added:

"This is not coming officially from the team or anything like that, it's been out there on the internet but that is not going to happen as I understand it."

The Sky F1 journalist explained Alonso's management might be on the lookout for seat options for the Spanish matador as his contract expires at the end of the 2024 season.

"From what I can gather, some senior, well-placed people have told me that maybe Alonso's management has been doing their due diligence again and assessing whether there are any other potentially better options for him next year and perhaps that has been inflated into he's going to take Perez's seat rather than Ricciardo."

Even though many F1 fans would wish to see the two-time World Champion race alongside Flying Dutchman, chances are it is not going to happen. Slater concluded: "I have it on pretty good authority that that's not going to happen."