Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
