Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.