Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
