Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
