Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.
His teammate the Japanese driver 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 get away with just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
