Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice
Lando Norris has outscored his teammate at all of the last five race weekends.
Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team ran a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.