Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
