Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
