Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
