Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
