Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
