Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
