Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
