Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
