Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with 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 quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
