Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, 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, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
