đź”— Share this article Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the past five race weekends. The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs. Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at the evening session. Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme. Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session. The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the fence. Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight. The veteran finished practice in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver. Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.