The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
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