Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
