Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that Ferrari's antics during yesterday's German Grand Prix were the most obvious case of team orders he had ever seen.

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa led the race from the beginning after overtaking both his team-mate Fernando Alonso and pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull at the start. But with only 17 laps to go, Massa lifted off the throttle coming out of the turn six hairpin, handing the victory to the Spaniard.

Shortly before the incident, Massa had received communications from his engineer Rob Smedley, informing him that Alonso was faster, he was then asked to confirm if he understood this message. After the overtake Smedley was again on the radio apologising to Massa.

Horner compared the incident to the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, when Rubens Barrichello allowed Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher to pass him on the finishing straight.

Horner had no doubt in his mind that it was a team order.

"I have to say, that was probably the clearest team order I've ever seen," he said, "especially when you've got the team apologising to a driver.

"The regulations are pretty clear that team orders aren't allowed and it looked like a team order."

Horner added that his Red Bull team would not have acted in the same way.

"We let our drivers race," he said. "Massa's still in this championship, or maybe he's signed a contract that says he's a number two driver, but I think that it's wrong for the sport.

"The drivers should've been allowed to race. Massa did the better job. He was in the lead."