Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes Lewis Hamilton should perhaps alter his approach in wheel-to-wheel combat after his collision with Alex Albon during the Austrian Grand Prix.

Following the final safety car period Albon tried to pass Hamilton for second place around the outside at Turn 4, but was tipped into a spin by the Mercedes driver.

The incident was reviewed by the stewards who deemed Hamilton responsible and handed the six-time world champion a five-second penalty, costing him a podium finish.

It marked the second time in three races the pair have come together, with the previous clash coming at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix which also resulted in Hamilton receiving a time penalty.

Asked what advice he would give Albon when racing Hamilton in future races, Horner said, as quoted by Motorsport.com: “Be careful!

“Alex didn’t have the straight line speed, so he knew he had, with the grip advantage, to pass him in or out of a corner.

“As far as he was concerned, the job was done. He was starting to look down the road towards Valtteri [Bottas] when Lewis put a wheel on the inside. So I think it is more perhaps Lewis that the questions should be asked on what he would do differently.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff felt Hamilton had been treated unfairly by the stewards, labelling the in-race sanction as “too harsh” given he was on full lock into the corner.

Pressed to respond to Wolff’s view of the incident, Horner said: “Alex had won the corner, and was on the exit of the corner.

“Why Lewis needed to stick a wheel in there, I have no idea. It’s obviously frustrating for Alex that this is the second time in three races that this has happened to him.

“It was unfortunate, because I think he would have had a chance to win the race.”

Albon later reckoned had he cleared Hamilton he could have been in a position to challenge the other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas for victory.

The Anglo-Thai driver was on a quicker tyre which led some to suggest he could have been more patient in his attack, but Horner backed Albon’s attempt to move forward.

“The biggest advantage he had was on the warm up of the tyre, because Mercedes had got to get the hard tyre going after quite a few laps behind the safety car,” he said.

“We could see the Mercedes was very quick on the straights today, so he needed to make it work.

“He got the job done going into the corner. Through the corner he was ahead and he was just accelerating out when Lewis put a wheel in the inside of his right rear. You can’t be angry at him for that.”