Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each 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 points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
