Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out 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 just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
