Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
