🔗 Share this article Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends. The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs. Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT. Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy. His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting. The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the wall. Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight. The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver. Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best. The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.