Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
