Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, 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 practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
