Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
