Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
