Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
