Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
