Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
