Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after winning in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
