Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
