Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has beaten Oscar Piastri at each of the previous five race weekends.
The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, over half a second off the Australian's time.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
