Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.