Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
