Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
