Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
