Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
