Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
