Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
