Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
