Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
