Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
