Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
