Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
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 sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
