Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
