Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap 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 just one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
