Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
