Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
