Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
