Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
