Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
