Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the high-speed corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.