Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
