Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
