Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
