Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.