Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian 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 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
