Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
