Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
