Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
