Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
