Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
