Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
