Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out 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 took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
