Andrea Stella insists that McLaren will not favour one of its drivers over the other until the numbers dictate that it is time to do so.

Of course, despite being 26 points down on his teammate, the Sky team have already decided that Lando Norris should be given priority, even though Oscar Piastri has more wins, more poles and, of course, more points.

Though the Australian hasn't been on the podium since Monza, he insists the title is still within reach.

"I'd still rather be where I am than the other two," he told reporters after yesterday's United States Grand Prix. "Definitely Max and Red Bull have found a lot of pace since the summer break," he added. "We saw flashes of it at the start of the year, but it's been consistent since then.

"This weekend has obviously been tough," he admitted, "and the gap has come down a little bit in the last few weekends. But there's still a long way to go in the championship. It is still, for Max anyway, he's obviously chased it down pretty quick, but it's not exactly a small gap with five rounds to go."

While fans applaud the so-called papaya rules that leave Norris and Piastri free to race one another, it is widely feared that as the two continue to battle it increases the chances of 'mishaps', thereby allowing Verstappen to take advantage.

Nonetheless, Andrea Stella insists that now is not the time to instigate team orders in favour of one particular driver.

"The fact that there are five races and two Sprints means that we can also increase the gap to Max, that's how I see things," the Italian told reporters. "We have good tracks coming for our car and I think we have more that we could have exploited out of our car and to some extent, the drivers.

"I think, they recognise themselves that they could have done a better job in some of the previous races," he added.

"So I think we look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap on Max and, when it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics.

"We talked before about the experience and leaning on the experience, I can recall at least 2007, 2010, in which you go to the last race and it's actually the third that wins the championship. So we are not going to close the door unless this is closed by mathematics."

Not that long ago it was clearly a two-horse race, but the Dutchman's skill and determination, coupled with Red Bul's upgrades have brought him back into the fight.

Red Bull will continue to bring upgrades while McLaren, having won the constructors' title, is fully focussed on 2026.

"The danger for me is the same as there was in Baku," said Stella. "Something we said yesterday, in which I said very clearly in capital letter that Max was in the contest for the drivers' championship.

"When I say something, I mean it. It's not like, if I say it, I think it's because of the experience, it's because of understanding the trend, understanding the circuits that we were going to face from Baku onwards.

"For me, there's no mystery. We know that when Max has the material to win, he becomes a very serious candidate to win. So it doesn't change what our understanding of the situation is. It doesn't change what we do. We just have to keep maximising the performance and keep executing good weekends.

"So definitely we have a large opportunity and the outcome of this season and the drivers' championship is in our hands. It's not in someone else's hands. That's the mind-set that we want to have and that's the mindset that we will have."

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