Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
