Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
