Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver 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.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
