Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
