Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat 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.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
