Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner before the final bend on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
