Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team followed a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
