Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five grands prix.
Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.
The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
