Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
