Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
