Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
