Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
