Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
