Horner suggests Hamilton needs to change F1 approach after Albon clash

Hamilton and Albon were battling for second place in the closing stages of the season-opener when the Red Bull driver was tipped into a spin on the exit of Turn 4.

The stewards felt that Hamilton was to blame for the incident and handed him a five-second penalty, which cost the world champion a podium finish.

While Mercedes boss Toto Wolff felt the sanction was not "justified", Horner felt his man had been totally innocent.

And, in the wake of another collision the pair had in Brazil last year that Hamilton was also punished for, Horner suggests that Hamilton's approach needs questioning.

Asked by Autosport what advice he would give Albon about racing Hamilton in the future, Horner said: "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."

Pushed on whether he agreed with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff's view that the penalty given to Hamilton was "too harsh", 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."

While some have suggested that Albon could have been more patient in trying to move forward because of the big tyre advantage he had, Horner was clear that he felt that Thai driver was right to move quickly.

"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."