Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
