Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four 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 wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
