Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.