Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final bend on to the main straight.
Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
