Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
