Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session
The British driver has beaten his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.