Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
