Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
