Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the last five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.
The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
