Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
