Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
