Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
