Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
