Lewis Hamilton is a nine-time race winner at Silverstone while Lando Norris is eyeing his first British Grand Prix success ahead of his home Formula 1 race this weekend

Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton are flying the flag for Britain at Silverstone(Image: Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Lando Norris admitted he’d happily swap all seven of his Formula 1 race wins for a taste of Silverstone glory. The McLaren title-chaser has victories in Miami, Melbourne and Monaco to his name over the course of his career to date.

But none of those wins would compare to the feeling of being the first to take the chequered flag in front of his adoring home fans at Silverstone on Sunday. And the 25-year-old is eyeing back-to-back successes after beating team-mate Oscar Piastri in Austria last weekend.

Norris said: “It is tough to put something above Monaco but if I could swap all my race wins for one, it would be for a win here, so that is the plan. Winning at Monaco and Silverstone is different.

“Monaco has the history, and it means so much to win there, but Silverstone is my home race and the one that puts the bigger smile on my face. And since a kid watching Formula 1, it is the one I have wanted to win the most.”

Norris knows he is Britain’s best hope of a home hero this weekend with McLaren dominant. But he also knows he has a long way to go before being the country’s top racing superstar with Lewis Hamilton a nine-time winner at Silverstone after his fairytale success here last year.

He said: “From a British perspective, I have the best chance of winning the race and of course I am the one that is most likely to be fighting for the championship this season. Am I the British number one? I don’t know. I don’t know how much you have to take into account history. If you do, then Lewis is quite convincingly at the top – he has a lot more wins, poles and championships than anyone else put together.

“Being the British number one would be nice, that’s my goal, the same as it is with any sportsman, whether it is in tennis or golf, you want to be the number one, but I would say I haven’t proven myself to be there yet. But it is something I am working on.”

Norris has never won back-to-back races in his F1 career and admitted: “I need that consistency and I need to prove that to myself. The win gives you more motivation and you want to feel as though you can use your home race as an advantage and I hope that is the case this weekend.”

His main threat will again be Piastri who insists he’s not out for revenge despite the Brit’s victory in his hometown Melbourne in March. He said: “I’d be happy to win anywhere. Silverstone is a track I’ve always enjoyed and the crowd has always been actually quite nice to me.

“But I’m not really concerned about that, I’m more just focused on trying to get another win on the board. It’s a special race for me as well. I’ve lived in the UK for a long time, so it’s been my kind of second home race for quite a while.”