Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
