Andrea Stella has confirmed that McLaren will give Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri equal treatment at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend, despite the two title contenders being separated by 16 points with Max Verstappen sandwiched between them.

Piastri looked set to complete a weekend sweep in Qatar when he stormed out of Turn One with the lead on Sunday. The Australian secured both pole positions and cantered to a comfortable victory in the sprint race on Saturday, but was denied the grand prize by a poorly-judged McLaren strategy call.

The team left both drivers out on track while the rest of the field, Haas’ Esteban Ocon aside, came in for fresh Pirelli rubber. This handed Verstappen the favourable strategy, and he cruised to his seventh Grand Prix victory of the year, putting a major dent in Piastri’s title dreams.

With just one race remaining, Norris leads Verstappen by 12 points at the top, while Piastri is a further four points back behind the Dutchman. Despite the Melbourne-born star needing chaos ahead of him to jump from third to first in the standings, McLaren remain committed to equal treatment.

“In terms of adapting the way we go racing, we just want to always keep the options open for both drivers,” Andrea Stella told Sky Sports F1 after the race. “They’re both in condition to win the World Championship.

“There’s been often in the history of Formula One, a situation in which it was the third one – the third in the classification – to actually win the World Championship. I remember in 2007 with Kimi [Raikkonen], I think it was the same in 2010. I think we have to respect the fact that Oscar, he has his chances to win, and therefore we are going to let them race.”

Despite beating his team-mate for the first time since his seventh win of the year in Zandvoort, Piastri was devastated after the chequered flag. The Australian knew full well that his chances of heading to Abu Dhabi without needing a miracle hinged on winning in Qatar.

“I haven’t spoken to anyone, but feeling pretty c**p, as you’d imagine,” he said. “I don’t know what to say. Obviously, we didn’t get it right with the strategy. I think the pace was very strong. I feel like I didn’t put a foot wrong. Just a shame not to walk away with the win.”

Asked to look ahead to the season finale, Piastri set the bar low for his aspirations. “Just drive like I did this weekend,” he replied. “That’s all I can do. It was more than good enough to dominate this weekend, and if I can do the same thing next weekend, then I’ll be a happy man.”