Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by 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.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
