Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
