Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
