Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese slid 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 had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
