Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
