Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.