Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position 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 the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
