Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
