Alonso, leaving Formula 1 at the end of 2018, said that he has had two offers from Red Bull in 2018, including one this month to replace Daniel Ricciardo.

The team, however, denied that was the case.

Alonso expressed his frustration at the criticism he says has been levelled at him by the Red Bull management, and claimed he had offers from the team six times.

"I had a couple of offers from Red Bull," Alonso told Sky F1. "In fact I had in 2007, in 2009, in 2011, '13, 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.

"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."

Horner insisted on Friday that there was no offer, despite representations from Flavio Briatore – Alonso's long time manager – and F1's management.

"Obviously Flavio reached out, even FOM reached out, but it was clear from the onset," Horner told Channel 4.

"We did offer Fernando Alonso a contract, but that was back in 2007! To my knowledge, no one within Red Bull has offered him one since.

"He's a wonderful driver, he's a great talent, but it just doesn't fit the profile of our team, our investment in youth and the junior programme that's been so successful over the last 10 years."