Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
