Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
