Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
