Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
