Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
