Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
