Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner before the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
