Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
