Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
