Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
