Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
