Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
