Norris eyes Piastri payback: 'When that time comes'

Lando Norris is hopeful Oscar Piastri will return the favour after he supported his McLaren team-mate's bid for victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

It proved a fruitful endeavour, with the 24-year-old able to hold Sergio Perez up long enough for his Australian to avoid being under-cut by the Red Bull.

The contribution was made at the behest of the team and Norris' defensive driving was foundational in allowing Piastri to then take the fight to race-leader Charles Leclerc, which he ultimately succeeded in doing with an audacious dive-bomb into Turn 1.

It came on a weekend in which the Woking-based team looked set to put aside papaya rules in favour of prioritising Norris for the remainder of the season, given his better chances of de-throning Max Verstappen in the F1 drivers' championship, who he now trails by 59 points with seven rounds to go.

However, the Briton's Baku qualifying mishap put pay to that idea, consigning him to a recovery drive through the field to further eat into the title deficit - despite starting nine places behind his Dutch rival - and crucially, a support role for Piastri.

"People are making a bigger deal out of it than what it is," Norris told media including RacingNews365.

"I just love to go out and race well and qualify well, and be in positions where my team-mate can help me out, just like I was last weekend - I was in a position where I could help Oscar out and probably got him the win [in Azerbaijan].

"I played my part and I'm sure Oscar will play his part when that time comes."

'It doesn't work so much like that'

Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz's penultimate-lap shunt in Azerbaijan created a pronounced swing in the constructors' standings, with McLaren now leading Red Bull by 20 points.

And whilst team orders are expected to increase in prevalence at McLaren over the remaining seven rounds, the constructors' championship will remain the priority, something drivers' title-centric team orders might assist with, if it helps Norris and Piastri avoid tripping over one another.

However, despite playing the team game in Baku, Norris dismissed the idea that he has earned himself credit within McLaren for the part he played in his team-mate's victory.

"I don't think it works just like that," the two-time grand prix winner explained. "Like if I help him, he has to help me. It doesn't work so much like that.

"But, if there comes a scenario during this race, or one race until the end of the year, where he can help me, then I'm sure he would do a similar thing.

"So it's not like 'a must', and it's not like: 'You have to do this' and you count."