Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
