Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has outscored his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
