Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
