Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
