Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
