Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice

McLaren drivers in action

Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.

Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.

Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.

Mark Farrell
Mark Farrell

A tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering AI, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies across global markets.