Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice 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 the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, 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, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.