LANDO NORRIS has called on the Silverstone crowd not to cast world championship rival Oscar Piastri as a villain at this Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Norris will head into his home race off the back of a morale-boosting victory in Austria which took him to within 15 points of McLaren team-mate Piastri in the title race.

Norris and Piastri went toe-to-toe at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring and, such is their advantage over their competitors, the McLaren drivers will again be expected to slug it out for victory in front of 150,000 spectators.

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.

But when it was suggested to Australian Piastri that he could receive a hostile reception from the British 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 runner-up to Norris in Spielberg, added: “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.

“Of course, I am expecting that there will be more Lando fans than there are for me, but that’s fair enough.”

Norris bounced back from his collision with Piastri at the Canadian Grand Prix by delivering an impressive display in Austria, landing an emphatic pole position before holding off his team-mate to take his third win of the year.

The British driver has never triumphed in consecutive races. However, he will be desperate to rectify that statistic by securing a maiden home victory.

And McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is confident his driver, now a seven-time race winner, has the tools to do so.

“In terms of Lando being able to do that, yes, of course,” said Stella. “There is absolutely no reason why not — the talent, the quality, the race craft and even the trajectory Lando is in.

“I am so very proud of Lando and how everyone handled the situation in Canada and the fact we came through it more united and stronger. But the most important thing [at Silverstone] is back-to-back victories for McLaren.”