Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
