Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, 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 session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
