Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
