Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
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 spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
