Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
