Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
