Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
