Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
