Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
