Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
