Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian 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 scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
