Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
