Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outperformed Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.
The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's pace.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
