Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
