Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
