Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.