Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
