Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
