Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
