Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
