Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
