Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
