Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
