Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.