Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
