Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
