Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
