Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by just 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 leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
