Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points Norris, finished in 17th position as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.