Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
