ANDREA STELLA says his McLaren drivers must work together to see off challengers such as Max Verstappen before they can consider an inter-team title battle.

McLaren won the opening two races of the season — one each for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri — which sparked talk of a scrap between the team mates for the drivers’ championship.

But Verstappen, bidding for a fifth successive title, upset the odds by winning the Japanese Grand Prix to cut Norris’s title lead to just a single point.

Norris was unable to get close enough to Verstappen during a race which saw precious little overtaking action, with Piastri pushing his McLaren team mate in the closing stages.

Piastri told his team he believed he could threaten Verstappen but McLaren did not initiate a switch.

Team principal Stella insists that McLaren did not need reminding of the threat posed by Verstappen and Red Bull.

“When you have these indications from the track then maybe it reinforces the message that we do have to keep working well together,” Stella said.

“Because before it becomes an internal business only, I think there is quite a lot of work to do to clear some of the competitors.

“We don’t need these kinds of reminders because we talk about this every Thursday and Sunday of every race weekend. We are here first of all to beat the other teams and put McLaren in a very strong position.

“When McLaren is in a strong position that is the best position for the two drivers to pursue their aspirations. That is very clear to the team and very clear to the drivers.”

McLaren were fastest in every session until the final seconds of qualifying when Verstappen’s stunning lap grabbed pole.

Stella remains confident that they boast the strongest car and hopes that makes the difference across the season.

“I think the most important condition to pursue both championships is having the best car,” Stella said.

“When we are not in condition to win, finish on the podium and if in the long term you keep performing like this, I think this will be rewarding.

“Max at the moment is making the difference himself but it is very difficult to keep that up for 24 events in a season if you don’t have the best car.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes that McLaren have a tough task ahead managing the title aspirations of both Norris and Piastri.

“The problem they have is they have two drivers that are fighting for the drivers’ championship,” Horner said.

“I guess the difficulty is that they’ve made a bed where they are going to let them race so there is a compromise that inevitably comes with that.”

Red Bull have been off the pace in the early stages of the season but Verstappen’s fourth successive Japanese Grand Prix victory is a shot in the arm.

“Max has been stunning this weekend and demonstrated once again why he is the best driver on the grid,” Horner said.

“We leave Japan with a huge amount of work to do but huge motivation.”