Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
