Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
