Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
