Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
