Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
