Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
