Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
