Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.