Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, 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, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
