Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

McLaren drivers in action

Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.

Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.

The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.

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

Bryan Delgado
Bryan Delgado

A tech enthusiast and networking expert with over a decade of experience in telecommunications and fiber-optic technology.