Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
Lando Norris has outperformed his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
