Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.