Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
