Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
