Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead 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 fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
