Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
