Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
