Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
