Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying 36 points Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
