Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
