Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
