Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
