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 fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
