Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
