Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
