Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped 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 sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
