Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
