Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
