Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.