Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
