Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the final bend on to the main straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
