Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
