Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
