Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
