Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
