Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
