McLaren boss Andrea Stella has admitted Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris “could have done a better job” at recent races but insists the drivers’ title remains “in our hands” amid Max Verstappen’s surge into contention.

For much of the season it had appeared to be a two-horse race for the Drivers’ Championship between the McLaren pair, but Red Bull’s Verstappen has won three of the last four races to move within 40 points of leader Piastri, who is 14 points ahead of Norris.

The Dutchman trailed by 104 points after the Dutch Grand Prix in August but has taken advantage of a drop-off in Piastri’s form to close in, with a Sprint and Grand Prix double over the weekend in Austin leading Verstappen to declare that he “has a chance” of claiming a fifth successive’ drivers’ title.

With five rounds of the season remaining, two of which are Sprint weekends, Stella is refusing to accept that McLaren need to adopt a defensive mentality.

Speaking after Sunday’s race in Texas, the Italian said “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.

“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.”

Piastri’s win in Holland was McLaren’s 12th in the first 15 grands prix of the season, but they have since gone four races without a victory.

The Australian has particularly struggled, crashing out in Azerbaijan and then triggering a first-corner collision in the United States Grand Prix Sprint that took both himself and Norris out of the Saturday contest.

Stella continued: “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.

“From this point of view, if you think of a race like Baku, we didn’t maximise the performance and we didn’t execute a perfect race.

“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.”

No upgrades, no prioritising one driver… yet

Norris has fought back from a deficit to Piastri that grew to 34 points after the Brit retired when his team-mate won in Zandvoort, finishing ahead of the Australian at each of the last four races.

Norris’ recent gains have made it hugely unlikely that McLaren would consider favouring one driver or the other to combat Verstappen’s surge, and Stella admitted such a ploy would only be used by the Woking squad should one of their pairing be mathematically ruled out of contention.

It’s rare for a team to dominate the Constructors’ Championship in the manner McLaren have, sealing it with six rounds to go in Singapore, and to miss out on – or even be closely challenged for – the drivers’ title.

Stella referenced past examples of McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso missing out on the title in 2007, and Sebastian Vettel marginally holding off Alonso, by this point at Ferrari, in 2010 after battling his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.

“When it comes to having to make a call as to a driver, this will only be led by mathematics,” Stella said.

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

Verstappen’s resurgence came after Red Bull brought major upgrades to the Italian Grand Prix and followed up with more new parts in Baku.

McLaren have not added significant new parts since the Austrian Grand Prix in June, but Stella confirmed that there will no late scramble to improve the MCL38.

He said: “When it comes to new upgrades, new parts, then this will not happen for the rest of the season.”

Formula 1’s thrilling title race heads continues at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime