Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
