Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
