Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber 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 in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
