Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver 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 his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.