Red Bull F1 team says it would be wrong to use team orders

Ricciardo finished in third place, right behind Vettel, to get within 60 points of the championship lead.

The Australian needs to close in by another 11 points ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi to be in mathematical contention for the title at the final round.

But although Ricciardo would have gained a further three points if the team had swapped positions, Horner said that he will not interfere in his drivers' own title ambitions.

"Both our drivers have a mathematical chance, and yes it is a long shot, but it's down to them racing each other on the track," said Horner.

"It would be wrong to interfere with that in the situation that we are in, and we'll let them race."

Horner said his decision to not throw all the team's weight behind Ricciardo was influenced by the fact that Mercedes still appears to have a much quicker car, which makes winning the title unlikely.

"They have an enormous advantage at this point," he said. "We are taking it one race at a time.

"Both of them are just about still in this championship and both have taken a chunk of points out of Nico [Rosberg].

"Daniel has conceded three points to Seb, but is that going to make the difference?

"It's impossible to say without a crystal ball at this stage, and it doesn't make sense to interfere with team orders."

Horner did make it clear, however, that Red Bull would probably step in if there was a time when Vettel was mathematically out of contention.

"If there was a realistic chance of Daniel winning and Sebastian was mathematically out of the championship, then of course we would do whatever was best for the team," he said.

"The situation we are in at the moment, it's a long shot."