Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
