Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.