Lando Norris has urged fans at Silverstone not to cast his McLaren teammate and world championship rival, Oscar Piastri, as a villain at Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Norris won the Austrian GP in Spielberg after a tense, lights-to-flag fight with Piastri, the pair in almost constant competition over 70 laps. Norris held his nerve with great control and closed to within 15 points of the Australian in the title fight
With McLaren so dominant, the drivers’ championship looks to be a two-horse race between the teammates and the team principal, Andrea Stella, said the British driver was in a strong position to back-up his victory in Austria with a first home GP win.
The fans at Silverstone will largely be on Norris’s side, with the 25-year-old selling out his own 10,000-capacity area at Stowe – renamed the Landostand, which overlooks Stowe corner – for the first time.
When it was suggested that the Australian Piastri could receive a hostile reception from the crowd, Norris said: “I certainly hope that doesn’t happen. The British fans are normally very accepting for all of us, especially at McLaren, so the first point should be for the fans to support everyone.”
Piastri, who finished second behind Norris in Spielberg, said: “A couple of years ago they were chanting my name and that was unexpected. I am not sure I will get that again, but they have always been very accepting of me. I race for a British team. I am expecting that there will be more Lando fans than there are for me, but that’s fair enough.”
Victory at Silverstone would be the first time Norris has taken back-to-back victories in the same season as well as a maiden home success, and he is well placed to achieve both milestones, according to Stella.
“The most important thing is that the back-to-back victory is for McLaren and that’s our mindset and that’s our determination going into the British GP,” he said. “There’s absolutely no reason why not, but many reasons why yes. The talent, the quality, the race craft and even the trajectory Lando is in.”
Norris is certainly on a roll with a strong comeback from adversity. At the previous round in Canada, he hit Piastri late in the race and was forced to retire, something McLaren made clear was unacceptable between teammates. They acknowledged it was a misjudgement on Norris’s part rather than recklessness and remained confident in their driver and his abilities.
He came back with a mighty run at the Red Bull Ring to take pole position by half a second and then produced an almost flawless race for a win that reasserted his place in the title race.
“The speed is there and results will come, which is what Lando demonstrated in Austria,” said Stella. “So very proud of Lando, very proud of how everyone handled the situation in Canada and that we ended up more united and stronger.”
Norris goes into his home race as favourite, but said he felt no additional pressure from the weight of expectation. “It’s a place I want to win more than anywhere else, but it doesn’t change anything, it just puts a bit more of a smile on my face every morning when I wake up,” he said. “It probably distracts me in a good way more than anything.
“There’s pressure in every race. There was pressure to win on Sunday, to be on pole on Saturday. I don’t think I can put myself under any more pressure. That doesn’t change anything. More just something to look forward to, to enjoy every day, enjoy every lap, enjoy the experience.
“Very excited for it. Kind of want to go there now, but I could do with a good sleep as well.”
