Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
