Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
