Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
