Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
