Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

McLaren drivers in action

The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.

Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a different programme.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran wrapped up in P19, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.

Brian Hernandez
Brian Hernandez

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