Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
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 grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
