Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
