Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

McLaren drivers in action

The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.

Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner before the final bend on to the main straight.

Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.

Cynthia Watson
Cynthia Watson

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