Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
