Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
