Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver 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 title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
