Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
