Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
