Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
