Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
