Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver 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 the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
