Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
