Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
