Norris Tops 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 quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
