Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
