Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.
