Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
