Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
