Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
