Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
