Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
