Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
