Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
