Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped 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 recently, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
