Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
