Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
