Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session 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 position as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
