Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.