Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
