Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
