Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped 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 grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
