Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
