Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
