Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
