Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
