Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot 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 the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
