Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
