British GP 2025: McLaren Teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri Play Down Fears of Fan Backlash at Team's Home Race

The 2025 Formula 1 season has been defined by an intra-team rivalry between McLaren F1 team drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Given their car has been comfortably the strongest, it is Norris and Piastri who have emerged as direct title contenders for the world driver's championship. 

The two will next be seen in action at the British GP 2025, which would put Piastri in a bit of an awkward spot - Norris is British and gets the unequivocal crowd backing, which should only be louder now that a British driver is competing for the title again. 

However, while there is an expectation that Norris will be cheered more, neither are expecting Piastri to be booed or targetted despite fears of the same in some quarters. 

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Piastri Expects Fans to Cheer Norris

Norris said that British fans are usually accepting of all drivers, especially ones who race for McLaren which is nominally a British team despite being founded by a New Zealander in Bruce McLaren. 

"I certainly hope that part's not going to happen. The British fans are normally very accepting for all of us and especially for us as McLaren. So I think the first point should be for all the fans to embrace everyone and to support everyone," Norris stated.

Piastri too said he did not fear being booed, recalling a time when British fans cheered him on despite him being an Australian.

"A couple of years ago they were chanting my name in the crowd, so that was unexpected. I'm not sure I'll quite get that again, which is fair enough. I'm expecting there to be a lot more Lando fans than my fans, but that's fair. It's his home race as well," Piastri said. 

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Who Will Emerge on Top?

The one thing that is for certain is that it is set to be another tight battle for the race win that should come down to the two McLarens again. 

Piastri had developed a knack of finishing ahead of his teammate in recent races, but Norris stopped that with an emphatic win at the Austrian GP 2025 and seems primed for more good results.