Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
