Norris Edges Out Oscar 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 top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
