Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has backed Mark Webber to overcome his difficult start to the Formula 1 season.

Webber suffered car problems in China last weekend which led to a wheel falling off in the middle of the race, while it is understood that the Australian is still reeling with teammate Sebastian Vettel for ignoring team orders in the Malaysian Grand Prix last month.

"He will be fine. He is a tough competitor, and he was driving very well. He was coming back up through the field, after we made some big changes overnight to gear ratios and downforce levels and set-up to assist him to do that," he told AutoSport.

"The strategy was working very well for him and he was in the thick of it. The contact was unfortunate, but then to have to retire the car was even more unfortunate. Our objective is always to get both cars to the finish as high as we can."

Webber is widely expected to leave Red Bull at the end of the season.