Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The veteran ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
