Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, 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 set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
