Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
