Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
