Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
