Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
