McLaren boss Andrea Stella insisted that Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will not have to take a defensive approach against Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship.

Red Bull driver reduced the gap to leader Piastri to 40 points after winning the Sprint and Grand Prix in the United States last weekend.

Meanwhile, the McLaren duo both failed to finish the Sprint race after colliding on the very first corner, with Verstappen capitalising on their recent string of errors.

The Dutchman has won three of the last four races and declared he “has a chance” to win his fifth consecutive drivers’ title.

However, with just five races left on the calendar, Stella believes Piastri and Norris will pull away from Verstappen due to more favourable tracks for the McLaren car.

“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,” said Stella.

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“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 themselves, I think they recognise themselves that they could have done a better job at some of the previous races.

“We look at the next five races as opportunities to increase the gap to Max. We know that when Max has the material to win, he becomes a very serious candidate to win.

“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.

“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 mindset that we want to have and will have.”