Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, 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 realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
