Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
