Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session 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 recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
