Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.