Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.