Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
A seasoned sports analyst with a passion for data-driven betting and helping others make informed decisions.
Eric Flowers
Eric Flowers
Eric Flowers
Eric Flowers