Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
