Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
