Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
