Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
