Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian 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 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
