Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
