Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
