Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver 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 sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.