Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
