Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.