Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
