Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.