Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
