Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
