Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
