Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.