Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
