Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
