Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
