Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
