Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
