Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
