Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
