Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
