Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.