Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
