Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
