Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
