Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
