Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian 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 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
