Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
