Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat 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 sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out 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.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
