Fernando Alonso says he was approached twice by Red Bull about driving for the team in 2019 and six times in total during his Formula 1 career.
With Daniel Ricciardo's switch to Renault, an opening emerged at Red Bull and many linked Alonso with the drive as the Spaniard seeks a competitive drive to see out his F1 career. However the idea was shut down by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner who described the two-time champion as "chaos causing".
"He's tended to cause a bit of chaos wherever he's gone," said Horner. "I'm not sure it would be the healthiest thing for Fernando to join the team"
However this weekend, after announcing he would retire at the end of the season, Alonso insisted Red Bull had in fact made him various offers throughout his career, two of which were made this season.
"I had a couple of offers from Red Bull," Alonso told Sky Sports F1. "In fact I had in 2007, in 2009, in 2011, 2013, and two this year, one in Monaco, and one in August.
"So I'm happy you asked me this question, because the comments of Christian Horner this summer and Mr [Helmut] Marko are completely out of context, surprise comments about me creating chaos, difficult man to work with.
"One, they never worked with me, and secondly they've been chasing me for five or six occasions in the last seven years, and now they say that, that they are loyal to their programme and their commitments and their junior drivers."
Alonso revealed that Horner had apologised for his comments, but the McLaren driver wants a public apology from the Briton.
"It has been weird, it has been unfair to me. I wrote to Christian after his comments this summer, he apologised by email, and hopefully he'll apologise again this weekend."