Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
