Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the main straight.
The veteran ended the session in P19, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
