Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
