Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
