Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

McLaren drivers in action

The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.

Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.

The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the quick descending corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran wrapped up in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, over half a second off the Australian's time.

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.

Lindsay Terry
Lindsay Terry

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