Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
