Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
