Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by 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, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
