Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
