Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
