Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
