Formula 1: Red Bull Racing rule out signing Fernando Alonso for 2020

Despite ongoing rumors that Fernando Alonso may return to Formula 1 with Red Bull Racing next year, the team have ruled out signing him.

Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso retired from Formula 1 after the 2018 season came to an end following a 17-year career in the sport, but there has been speculation that he could return for the 2020 season.

While not a priority for the 37-year-old Spaniard, he has stated that he would consider returning if a good opportunity arises, likely with one of the sport’s top three teams.

One of these top three teams are Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. In his first season driving for the Milton Keynes-based team, Pierre Gasly has severely underperformed, causing rumors that he may be replaced by the team after the season ends.

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Red Bull Racing team manager Helmut Marko and team principal Christian Horner confirmed that the 23-year-old Frenchman is safe until the end of the 2019 season but that he will need to “get it together” over the course of the 21-race season’s final nine races in order to return to the team next year.

According to Marko, Alonso’s representatives informed Red Bull Racing that he is “available” for the team to sign for the 2020 season. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton even recently hinted that he could sign with the team because of the “available seat” that Gasly is currently occupying.

But here is the elaborate response that Marko had to offer about the possibility of the team actually signing Alonso, according to Sports Mole.

"“No.”"

In other words, the speculation ends here, and with all things considered, this shouldn’t be all that surprising.

Red Bull Racing and Alonso have had previous disagreements about contract offers, with Alonso stating that they offered him a contract for the 2019 season but Red Bull Racing denying it.

In fact, Alonso claimed that they have offered him six contracts over the course of his career after Horner made the claim that Alonso has “tended to cause a bit of chaos wherever he’s gone” throughout the course of his Formula 1 career. Alonso even called for Horner’s apology when he made this claim.

Let’s also not forget the fact that Red Bull Racing are now a Honda-powered team, and during Alonso’s second stint at McLaren from the 2015 season through the 2018 season, the team used Honda engines for the first three years.

Because of how the Japanese manufacturer’s relationship with McLaren and Alonso deteriorated, they are no longer willing to work with either. They wouldn’t even supply engines for their Indianapolis 500 effort in May, which ultimately turned into a disastrous failure with Chevrolet.

On several occasions, Alonso ripped Honda during their three-year stint together from 2015 to 2017, referring to them as a “GP2 engine”. During this stint, he was forced to retire from 22 of 56 races and never finished an individual race higher than fifth place while never finishing higher than 10th in the driver standings. McLaren never finished higher than sixth in the constructor standings.

With Red Bull Racing having ruled out signing Fernando Alonso for the 2020 Formula 1 season, is there still a chance that he will return to the sport next year? With all things considered, he probably won’t be back, especially not in 2020.