Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
