Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, 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 championship fight, lying 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
