Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
