Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
