Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
