Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
