Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
