Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
