Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
