Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
