Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
