Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points Norris, finished in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
