Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
