Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
