Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.
Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
