Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
