Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the quick descending corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.