Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
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.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
