Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
