Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, over half a second off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
