Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.