Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
