Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, 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 set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th position as his team followed a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
