Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
