Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
