Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs 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 the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
