Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes his team are strong enough to cause Mercedes plenty of problems at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

The Silver Arrows have again been the dominant force in 2016, with Nico Rosberg currently leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 33 points in what has largely been another two-horse race for the title.

In the moments when they have been challenged, it has been Red Bull who have mainly led the way, with Horner’s men the only other team to win a race this season.

This has helped them re-establish themselves ahead of Ferrari as the second best team on the grid and they will be hoping to again upset the apple cart on Sunday in Austin.

Recent Malaysian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo was especially impressive at the Circuit of the Americas, finishing behind Rosberg and ahead of Hamilton in second practice on Friday.

The Australian and team-mate Max Verstappen will now be hoping to put more pressure on Mercedes in Saturday’s final practice and then qualifying.

Horner admitted after Friday’s action he was encouraged by what he had seen and is confident his team can make things interesting over the weekend.

“Ricciardo has had a great day,” he said. “His short-run pace has been very strong, his long-run pace has been strong. “Mercedes are favourites going into the grand prix but if we can get within 0.1secs or so we can put a bit of pressure on in the race.”

Ricciardo and Verstappen are currently 10.00 and 11.00 respectively to win in Texas, with Hamilton the 1.85 favourite ahead of Rosberg, who is priced at 2.20.