Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
