Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
