Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
