Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.