Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
