Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
