Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the quick descending corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.