Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
