Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th position as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
