Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
