Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running 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 behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner leading to the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
