Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, 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 sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.