Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the high-speed corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
