Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
