Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
