Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.