Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
