Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.