Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
