Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
