Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
