Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team followed 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 spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
