Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
