Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
