Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
