Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren 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, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
