Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
