Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
