Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
