Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
