Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
