Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
