Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
