Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting 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 only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the main straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
