Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
