Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
