Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.