Horner believes Mercedes' team orders were obvious

Red Bull boss Christian Horner is surprised that Mercedes did not make it clear to Valtteri Bottas at the start of the race that they'd be wanting Lewis Hamilton to overtake the Finn.

Bottas looked as if he was finally going to get his first win of this season on Sunday before his Mercedes team demanded that he let the world champion go ahead as they were concerned about his tyres.

Horner isn't surprised Mercedes chose to go with this tactic and admitted that he would have done the same thing, but he believes there was a change of stance to what it was before the race.

"From what I understand, Bottas wasn't particularly happy," Horner told Autosport. "But you would have thought they would have discussed the scenarios before the race.

"It shouldn't have been a surprise. I'm surprised it would have been a surprise to anybody. It's very easy to forget that F1 is a team sport. The drivers ultimately drive for the team.

"What was I suppose slightly confusing about that it wasn't all pre-discussed and agreed going into the event."

Horner revealed that he would have made the same decision as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

"In that situation it only takes a couple of DNFs, and you are fighting for a world championship," Horner referring to the world championship battle, that Hamilton is winning by 50 points.

"It's a constant battle between a drivers' championship and the self interest of the drivers and the collective interest of the team. So you can understand the rationale behind it. It just sounds like the execution wasn't pre-discussed."