Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
