Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
