Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
