Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
