Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.