Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
