Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

McLaren drivers in action

Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.

Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.

The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the pit straight.

Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.

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

Steven Proctor
Steven Proctor

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