Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has effectively ruled out Fernando Alonso filling the vacant seat in the Red Bull stable left by Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo.
The Spanish driver has been linked with the Red Bull squad on numerous occasions during his 18-year tenure in Formula 1, however, Horner feels the double-world champion would not fit well within the framework of the Red Bull outfit given the synonymous history and reputation Alonso carries with him.
Horner told the F1 podcast: "I've got huge respect for Fernando, he's a great driver, a fantastic driver. But I think it'd be very difficult to see. He's tended to cause a bit of chaos wherever he's gone.
"I'm not sure it would be the healthiest thing for Fernando to join the team. I think our preference would be to continue to invest in youth than take a driver who is obviously close to the end of his career."
Horner also stated he would prefer to look in-house and continue the trend of promoting younger talent from within their own famed academy of drivers to drive alongside Max Verstappen in 2019. However, he did admit to being open to other offers outside of the Red Bull framework.
When asked about how he would go about replacing Ricciardo, Horner added: "Well, we're fortunate that we've got several drivers under contract that are great talents, so I think we're gonna sit back and evaluate what the situation is and see what comes out.
"It's an incredibly attractive car to be driving, so I don't think we're gonna be short of requests and offers."
On looking outside of Red Bull, Horner continued: "I think we'll look at everything, but I think the preferred group will be very much to invest as has been so successful in-home talent.
"[Sebastian] Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo, [Carlos] Sainz, [Pierre] Gasly, They're all products that have delivered for us, they're all products of the Red Bull junior programme."
With Sainz and Gasly at the top of the list of likely candidates to be given the call-up to the senior team, Horner also said he feels it is now a good time to take a step back and evaluate the potential of both drivers.
"Both of those guys are very quick drivers and I think this gives us an opportunity to take a breath," he added.
"They're under contract anyway until the end of the summer or beyond. We'll look at all the options available to us and make sure we make the right decision for the team."
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