Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
