Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
