Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
