Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
