Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
