Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
