🔗 Share this article Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends. Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs. Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session. Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme. His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting. The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence. The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight. The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver. The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second off Piastri's best. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.