Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
