Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
