Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
