Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate 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 grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, 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 fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
