Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.