Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed corner before the final bend on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
