Norris edges Piastri in Sao Paulo GP practice

Lando Norris beat McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to the top spot in the sole practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, while title rival Max Verstappen toiled with setup problems en route to 17th.

McLaren used only a set apiece of the Hard and Medium tires, with Piastri leading the way on both compounds until the very end of the session, when Norris strung together personal-best first and second sectors and a purple final split to set the benchmark at 1m09.975s. It was the third performance run on the Medium tires and flipped what had been consistently an almost 0.3s deficit to Piastri into a 0.023s advantage.

Piastri set a purple first sector on his final run, but a slow middle split and then a failure to improve in the final sector spoiled his chance to fend off Norris, relegating him to second place. The Australian ended the session with purple times in the first two sectors, combining for a theoretical best lap that would have been 0.17s quicker than Norris had he strung them together with his best final split over one lap.

Though the McLaren drivers were closely matched, their combined advantage over the field was immense, with Norris 0.619s faster than the next non-McLaren driver – Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, who capitalized on a tough session for Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers to end the hour third.

Title contender Verstappen couldn’t join the McLaren drivers at the top of the time sheet after spending the session tinkering with setup but unable to find a balance he liked. The Dutchman was eventually sent out on Soft tires for a qualifying simulation run – keeping a set of mediums in reserve for the rest of the weekend – but he abandoned the run before completing his first flying lap to return to pit lane. He switched back to his used Hards on which he set his fastest time, leaving him 1.393s off the pace in 17th without a representative lap.

Verstappen headed both Ferrari drivers, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton 18th and 19th after also sticking with the Hard compound throughout the session. They were separated by just 0.033s but more than 1.5s off the pace, even after Hamilton spun his car late through Mergulho.

Their absence left Hulkenberg to take third ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and home favorite Gabriel Bortoleto in the second Sauber in fourth place.

George Russell was the next-best driver in a front-running car in sixth, but the Briton was 0.67s slower than Norris.

Pierre Gasly was an optimistic seventh for Alpine, the Frenchman radioing early in the session: “I don’t know why the car feels more alive today than any other day for the past months.” He was 0.706s off the pace.

Carlos Sainz put Williams eighth ahead of Isack Hadjar for Racing Bulls and Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes in 10th.

Liam Lawson was 11th ahead of Alex Albon, Haas teammate Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, Lance Stroll and the freshly re-signed Franco Colapinto.

Verstappen, Leclerc and Hamilton followed, with Yuki Tsunoda completing the order after a disastrous session that saw him spin off the road over the exit curb at Descida do Lago just over 10 minutes into the session, damaging his front wing and front-right and rear-left corners as he clattered the barriers.

The Red Bull driver lost 25 minutes in his garage for repairs before rejoining on soft tires, with which he set the slowest time of the session, leaving him 1.788s off the pace.

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