Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
