Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
