Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
