Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
