Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
