Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
Lando Norris has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
