Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
