McLaren make decision on prioritising Oscar Piastri as Max Verstappen threat escalates

Andrea Stella has stated that McLaren are 'a long way' from prioritising Oscar Piastri over Lando Norris to get his maiden World Championship title over the line. From a comfortable position at the summer break, the duo are coming under increasing pressure from Max Verstappen.

Heading into the United States Grand Prix weekend, Verstappen was 63 points behind Piastri, having out-scored both McLaren drivers in each of the last three races. Then, in the sprint in Austin, both the Australian and Norris were taken out in an opening-lap incident.

Verstappen, meanwhile, stormed to victory, whittling eight points off Piastri's advantage, before clinching his seventh pole position of the campaign, setting him up to knock another sizeable chunk out of the 55-point deficit in the Grand Prix. The 24-year-old was only sixth-fastest following a disappointing session.

"We review our approach constantly, but we are a long way from being in a condition to say that we are going to prioritise one driver over the other, especially as long as the chances are realistic for both drivers," team principal Stella replied when asked if McLaren would enact team orders to protect against Verstappen.

"This is the way we intend racing. This is the way in which we approach racing: we want to remain fair, and we want to apply equality to both drivers. So this is the situation at the moment."

Stella continued: "There are actually so many points yet to go that Verstappen is definitely in the quest, so I think the most important thing is that we make sure that the world champion will be a driver in a papaya car.

"But who is going to be the one? Certainly, the team wants both Oscar and Lando to be able to pursue their aspirations as long as it is reasonable to do so and as long as it's reasonable not having to commit to one driver."

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Piastri will be desperate to recover points on Sunday. The Melbourne-born driver has been out-scored by his team-mate in six of the last eight full-length races, and has only clinched two Grand Prix victories in his last nine attempts. Momentum is with Norris and Verstappen with six rounds of the campaign to go.

For Zak Brown, the directive is clear: stop Verstappen at all costs. "This Max guy, he's relentless," he told BBC Sport. "So I'm more focused on making sure he doesn't get himself any more in the game than he already is.

"Because our goal is to finish one-two in the Drivers' Championship, give our guys equal opportunity to decide who's first, who's second. What we really don't want is that Max guy getting in the middle of our fun."