Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, 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 go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
