Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
