Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
