Horner does not rule out team orders: 'Perez knows his job is to support Max'

"He’s just confident, he is finding his feet, and he is finding his confidence in the team. I think that confidence has started to come and come. It’s perfect timing for us to see him getting that performance," Horner told the Sky Sports camera.

The race is Austin was very important for Red Bull. "We need him there, you saw in Austin by having Sergio there it didn’t enable Hamilton to go on longer in that stint. Strategically, it just buys you more options and that’s what we’ve been desperate for."

Team orders at Red Bull this weekend?

Will Red Bull make use of team orders if Perez is leading his home race with Verstappen behind? "What you have to understand is, it’s a team sport. And it’s a team sport where we are fighting. It happens to be Checo’s home race, we are going to have to talk about all these scenarios before the race, so everybody knows what the plan is."

"At this point in the championship, we can’t afford to give a single point away. If we have to maximize the points, we need to do that. We will certainly discuss these things as we always do, Sergio knows what his job is for the team to support his teammate and it would be a wonderful problem to have," Horner finished.