Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
