Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
