Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single 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, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
