Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
