Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
