Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner before the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
