Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
