Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn 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 well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
