Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
