Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
