Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.