Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
